Sexual expression in paraplegia.

Paraplegia.

Nurses caring for people who have sustained an injury resulting in paraplegia must have an understanding of both the psychological and physical effects. This Update examines the nurse's role in preparing the patient for the future.

Body Composition in Paraplegia

Paraplegia leads to immobilisation associated with profound changes in body composition. The potential risks involved with these changes i.e. loss of lean tissue mass (LM) and bone mineral density (BMD) vs. gain in fat mass (FM) in body composition have implications for the health of the disabled individuals [1]. Body fat has been identified as a significant predictor of mortality in humans mak...

Heterotopic Ossification in Paraplegia

This paper is based on study over twelve and a half years of 170 patients suffering from traumatic paraplegia or tetraplegia, ofwhom 162 survived for more than a month after injury, and of 103 patients with other lesions of the spinal cord. The patients in the second group were less suitable for analysis because in many the lesions were disseminated or incomplete: few could be compared with the...

Malnutrition in Paraplegia

The bladder in paraplegia.

Physiology There is little difference of opinion on the main physiological points. The micturition centre in the sacral cord, opposite the twelfth dorsal and first lumbar vertebral bodies, controls the normal filling of the bladder, reacts to a stretch in the muscle and empties the bladder, though perhaps not quite completely, in one sustained contraction. The afferent and efferent impulses pas...