SCI Basics
Learn about spinal cord injury (SCI): causes, classification, effects, treatments, and more. The resources on this page can help you understand how damage to the spinal cord affects body functions and daily life.
What is SCI?
SCI is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function, such as mobility or feeling.
1 in 50
The number of people who live with paralysis in the United States.
You are not alone
The estimated number of people with SCI living in the United States is approximately 302,000.
Additional Information About SCI
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. Frequent causes of damage are trauma (car accident, gunshot, falls, etc.) or disease (polio, spina bifida, Friedreich’s Ataxia, etc.).
The spinal cord does not have to be severed in order for a loss of function to occur. In fact, in most people with SCI, the spinal cord is intact, but the damage to it results in loss of function. SCI is very different from back injuries such as ruptured disks, spinal stenosis or pinched nerves.
A person can “break their back or neck” although not sustain a spinal cord injury if only the bones around the spinal cord (the vertebrae) are damaged, but the spinal cord is not affected. In these situations, the individual may not experience paralysis after the bones are stabilized.
SCI Educational Materials
These resources are for people living with spinal cord injuries. Learn about each topic below.
Spinal Cord Injury:
First 90 Days
Spinal Cord Injury: First 90 Days is a guide to acute SCI and is distributed free in print and online. The book details the first hours, days, and weeks after traumatic injury; it defines the injury and outlines basic medical care now and in the future. In easy-to-understand language, the book offers details on the complex medical and psychological issues that define SCI.
SCI: First 90 Days is intended to reach patients and their families in the very acute stages of injury — before any assignment to an inpatient rehab facility has been made. The book is also of great value once rehab begins, and as a resource to the SCI community at any time in the recovery process.
