Delivering honest answers to urgent questions, this candid and compassionate guide addresses the myriad physical and emotional issues surrounding sexuality after a spinal cord injury (SCI). Anatomy, fertility, sexually transmitted diseases, self-esteem, sexual satisfaction, and parenting are just a few of the topics included in its broad scope. Drawing heavily on the experiences of men and women living with SCI, the authors relay practical information in an easy-to-understand, no-nonsense style, acknowledging different lifestyles, tastes, values, and orientations. Written in a convenient question-and-answer format, this is a much-needed manual that allows individuals with SCI to explore their questions in private and at their own pace.

This easy-to-use handbook is designed to assist in the evaluation and management of spinal cord injuries and the diverse related disorders and conditions. Spinal cord injuries can cause abnormalities in all body systems due to dysfunction of the somatic motor and sensory systems and damage to the autonomic nerve system. The latter gives rise to respiratory and cardiac problems, temperature regulation disorders, endocrine system disorders, and many associated metabolic disorders. Other potential consequences of spinal cord injuries include pressure injuries and various disabilities and obstacles, ranging from physical limitations to social embarrassment. This handbook offers extensive guidance on medical management in different scenarios from the acute phase to long-term care, with a particular focus on information of importance for the solution of clinical problems commonly encountered in daily practice. It will be ideal for practitioners in rehabilitation medicine, neurosurgery, orthopedics, neurology, and other relevant specialties that deal with patients with spinal cord injuries.

If you or a loved one have a spinal cord disorder or injury, this book is for you. Here, in a concise format you can learn how to maximize your sexual responses and capacity for orgasm. In a straight-forward, simplified format, this book will give you the help you understand the impact of having a spinal cord injury or disorder on sexual responses and help you understand what issues can positively or negatively impact your ability to experience sexual pleasure. This book is an important read for anyone who has a spinal cord disorder or who loves someone with a spinal cord disorder.

"A comprehensive resource for coping with medical, emotional, and practical challenges."--Cover.

This comprehensive and practical reference is the perfect resource for the medical specialist treating persons with spinal cord injuries. The book provides detail about all aspects of spinal cord injury and disease. The initial seven chapters present the history, anatomy, imaging, epidemiology, and general acute management of spinal cord injury. The next eleven chapters deal with medical aspects of spinal cord damage, such as pulmonary management and the neurogenic bladder. Chapters on rehabilitation are followed by nine chapters dealing with diseases that cause non-traumatic spinal cord injury. A comprehensive imaging chapter is included with 30 figures which provide the reader with an excellent resource to understand the complex issues of imaging the spine and spinal cord.

Before his motorcycle accident, Travis saw himself becoming a pro football player. Now, paralyzed from the nipple down, he says, "At times it's a pain in the ass-literally and figuratively. But it allows me to not be as threatening to some people [the way I was when] I was still an athlete. Because a lot of times male interaction is done on the basis of pissing contests: I'm bigger, I'm tougher, I'm stronger, I'm smarter. When you're in a chair, they don't look at you like that." At the same time, Travis complains that many people are uncomfortable interacting with him because of his disability. "I would rather you make a mistake and deal with me than not deal with me at all." Meghan is a high-level quadriplegic, living alone, who uses a power wheelchair and requires daily attendant care. She laments, "There are so many people who think we're asexual, we're not pretty, and we're creeps and weirdoes." To dispel this myth, she envisions a fashion show of women in wheelchairs parading down a runway. Meghan has been involved in a number of sexual relationships since sustaining her injury. While she doesn't think her disability has diminished her sexual pleasure, she feels that it has affected her sexual performance: "Well, you can't move it. You can't, like, bump and grind." In 32 unusually frank in-depth interviews like these, the men and women in this book freely discuss their sex lives, their beliefs about God, how they want others to treat them, and whether they want to walk again. In each chapter the author presents their complex voices and comprehensive research about different facets of spinal cord injury (SCI). Wheeling and Dealing explores the extent to which people with spinal cord injury locate their challenges in their physical impairments or in the social environment. Some disagree with those disability activists who focus almost exclusively on the latter, but the author examines this issue in depth. Topics include: --Physical health from degrees of loss of function to problems like pressure sores, temperature regulation, and bladder control. --The stages of psychological adjustment and rehabilitation. --Obstacles to sexual intimacy, treatment of erectile dysfunction, and new sources of sexual pleasure and emotional intimacy. --Religion and spirituality. --Social and political beliefs, with those with SCI weighing in on everything from welfare services to embryonic stem cell research. --Dating, marriage, and parenting. --Friendship networks and social supports; concerns about transportation and accessibility; stigma. --Education, employment, and economic consequences. This book is the recipient of the 2004 Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize from Vanderbilt University Press for the best project in the area of medicine.

Physical rehabilitation for walking recovery after spinal cord injury is undergoing a paradigm shift. Therapy historically has focused on compensation for sensorimotor deficits after SCI using wheelchairs and bracing to achieve mobility. With locomotor training, the aim is to promote recovery via activation of the neuromuscular system below the level of the lesion. What basic scientists have shown us as the potential of the nervous system for plasticity, to learn, even after injury is being translated into a rehabilitation strategy by taking advantage of the intrinsic biology of the central nervous system. While spinal cord injury from basic and clinical perspectives was the gateway for developing locomotor training, its application has been extended to other populations with neurologic dysfunction resulting in loss of walking or walking disability.

Combining clinical experience with patients’ own stories, the authors cover the causes of and prognosis for SCI through case studies, review common courses of rehabilitation, and answer the “what now?” questions—from daily routines to larger issues concerning sex, education and employment, childbearing, and parenting with SCI.