Suggestion of Ambulation & Physiotherapy

[GavaskarG]

Actually my father fall down from 15feet height. so his cervical spinal card broken. afterwards he could not move his hands and legs any part of his body except solder. he unable to sense also. now before two week he had cervical spinal card surgery. after surgery he is in bed only, but he feels painful of body. doctors told that we have to do ambulation and phisiotherapy. but i dont know about this and all. please give some of your suggetion as soon as possiable.

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[gcoe]

Hi GavaskarG

From what you wrote it sounds most likely that your father fractured at least one vertebrae in his back and that this unstable fracture resulted in damage to the spinal cord. This damage to the spinal cord resulted in quadriplegia – the paralysis of all four limbs. This spinal cord damage may be incomplete or complete. If it is incomplete then he may get back some movement and feeling in his trunk and limbs. Sometimes the damage doesn't result from a broken bone but due to excessive movement in the spine at the time of the injury or due to a damaged disc that lies between the vertebrae.

Developing pain in the body is not uncommon after spinal cord injury. Some of the pain maybe due to local damage in the body such as pat at the operation site or pain from the fracture. However you can also develop pain that is due to the nerve damage that results in changes to the way the nervous system works. In this second case the pain is like a faulty alarm signal going off when there is really not much wrong in the body.

When the surgeon (orthopaedic surgeon or neurosurgeon?) operated on your father he probably attempted to take the pressure off the spinal cord and to fuse the damaged bones so that the area is stable. After the surgery graded exercise is usually started. Certain exercises can be undertaken and there are other exercises that should be avoided

Based on what you have written I wouldn’t be able to advise you on what your father should or shouldn’t be doing with physiotherapy or mobility. As this is such a serious injury you need to be guided by the people who are managing your father's injury as they should know what is going on. As a general rule if the spine is now stable you generally what to start getting going and delaying getting going can be unhelpful in the long term. However I don’t really know exactly what is going on. Only your father’s surgeon and physiotherapist are in that position to advise you. If you are not happy with the advice you could get a second opinion from a surgeon at the hospital.

I wish you all the best for your father’s recovery