Q. Why support an SCI patient?
The impact of a spinal cord injury(SCI) or other physical physical disability on a family is often overwhelming. People with SCI or other physical disability are reliant on others for the provision of care associated with the basic activities of daily living and require mobility aids such as wheelchairs and technical aids for use at work, at home in recreation. Additionally, persons injured in accidents such as sport and motor vehicle mishaps can no longer rely on large insurance settlement to meet their basic requirements of living with a disability over their life span, as insurance settlements have typically decreased over the past decade. Hence, individually and families often bear the costs of ongoing and continuous care.

Q. What is the purpose of KPO?
KPO's major role is to assist persons with spinal cord injuries and other physical disabilities to achieve independence, self-reliance and full community participation. Our priority is to reach out and respond to the needs of all people with spinal cord injuries and their families. We shall strive to be inclusive by assisting people with related disabilities.

SCI Terminologies
The spinal cord is the "highway" through which motor and sensory information travels between the brain and body. It contains spinal tracts (white matter) which surround central areas (gray matter) where most neuronal cell bodies are located. Gray matter is organized into segments comprising sensory and motor neurons. Nerves in the spinal cord connect to the body through nerve "roots" that exit the spinal column and supply the nerves in the legs, bladder, etc.

Each root receives sensory information from skin areas called dermatomes. Each root supplies nerve control to a group of muscles called a myotome. While a dermatome usually represents one specific skin area, most roots supply nerve control to more than one muscle, and most muscles are innervated by more than one root.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects conduction of sensory and motor signals across the site(s) of lesion(s). By systematically examining the dermatomes and myotomes, health care practitioners can determine the cord segments affected by spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injured patients are classified into two basic schemes:

1. Quadriplegia - if there is evidence of functional loss of motor and sensory function at or above the C8 neurological level with demonstrable loss in the upper extremities.

2. Paraplegia - functional lo ss below the C8 level and represents a wide range of neuromuscular dysfunction.

An injury is classified into two basic categories:

1. Complete - no functional motor or sensory preservation in the sacral segments.
2. Incomplete - preserved motor or sensory function at the sacral levels.

Definitions:
Tetraplegia (preferred to "quadriplegia")
Impairment or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical segments of the spinal cord due to damage of neural elements within the spinal canal. Tetraplegia results in impairment of function in the arms as well as in the trunk, legs, and pelvic organs. It does not include brachial plexus lesions or injury to peripheral nerves outside the neural canal.

Paraplegia
Refers to impairment of loss of motor and/or sensory function in the thoracic, lumbar or sacral (but not cervical) segments of the spinal cord, secondary to damage of neural elements within the spinal canal. With paraplegia, arm functioning is spared but depending on the level of injury, the trunk, legs, and pelvic organs may be involved.