The European Contribution to the Surgical Management of Spinal Cord Injury: An Historical Perspective

European scientists gave a fundamental contribution to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury (SCI), and consequently defined the bestsuited treatment for this disease. The historical course of the management of SCI during the last two centuries goes through intuitive open-minded practicioners, physicians, neurologists, orthopedics, and neurosurgeons, which lived and operated on in the European countries. Starting from a purely conservative approach, advocated since the dawning of civilization, they deepened their anatomical knowledge overcoming the initial therapeutic nihilism and improving the dismal prognosis ascribed to damage to the spinal cord. Their achievements have driven to the actual managing protocols for the victims of this disabling disease.