Quadriplegia, also known as tetraplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all of their limbs and torso; paraplegia is similar but does not affect the arms. The loss is usually sensory and motor, which means both sensation and control are lost.
It is caused by damage to the brain or the spinal cord at a high level C1 - C8 - in particular, spinal cord injuries secondary to an in...
more
Quadriplegia, also known as tetraplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all of their limbs and torso; paraplegia is similar but does not affect the arms. The loss is usually sensory and motor, which means both sensation and control are lost.
It is caused by damage to the brain or the spinal cord at a high level C1 - C8 - in particular, spinal cord injuries secondary to an injury to the cervical spine. The injury, known as a lesion, causes victims to lose partial or total function of all four limbs, meaning the arms and the legs. Quadriplegia is defined in many ways; C1-C4 usually effects arm movement more so than a C5-C7 injury; however all quadriplegics have or have had some kind of finger dysfunction. So, it is not uncommon to have a quadriplegic with fully functional arms, only to have their fingers not work.
Typical causes of this damage are trauma (such as car crash, fall, or sports injury) or disease (such...
less