You’re out driving to your favourite restaurant with your friends, crossing the intersection with ease, until a car runs the red light to your right and crashes into the side of your vehicle. Your vehicle begins spinning out of control and you wake up in the hospital in searing pain. A numb, tingling sensation is felt in your back, and you’re told that you have suffered a complete spinal injury as a result of the crash. After this situation occurs, you need to receive medical attention immediately, and file a spinal injury claim to receive financial support for your injuries.
A complete spinal cord injury is usually thought of as an injury where there is no voluntary muscle use or conscious sensations below the injury, but this is not always the case. Partial preservation of function below the injury is actually quite common, but the injury is still defined as “complete.”
So how are spinal injuries determined? The 1992 American Spinal Cord Association has come up with its own simple definition for a complete injury. The ASIA Scale classifies spinal injuries as:
- A- Complete: There is no sensory sensation or motor function in S4 or S5.
- B- Sensory Incomplete: There is some sensation at the level below the injury, including segments S4 and S5.
- C- Motor Incomplete: There is voluntary anal sphincter contraction, with some motor function to three levels below the motor level of the injury, but most of the key muscles are weak.
- D- Motor Incomplete: The same as C, with the exception that most of the key muscles are fairly strong.
- E- Normal: Although hyperreflexia may be present, normal sensory and motor recoveries are exhibited.
Hiring a Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer
Hiring a Toronto personal injury lawyer to file a spinal injury claim will ensure that you receive the compensation that you deserve for your injury. Book an appointment with a Toronto personal injury lawyer at Sokoloff to file a spinal injury claim today.
Sources:
http://www.brainandspinalcord.org/content/levels_of_spinal_cord_injury