Spinal Cord Injury Statistics

Every 8 hours in the UK, someone is told that they may never walk again as a result of a spinal cord injury. There are an estimated 40,000 people living with a spinal damage and each year, 1200 people become paralysed.

Experiencing paralysis is one of the most devastating injuries that can arise from a traumatic accident. Spinal cord injuries have an acute effect on the individual themselves, as well as on their surrounding friends and family. The repercussions of spinal cord injuries impact every area of a victim’s life and require huge adjustments.

Breakdown of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Types

More than half of people living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) are between the age of 15 and 30, and nearly three-quarters of those paralysed are male. While some spinal cord injuries are a result of infection or disease, as many as 90% of cases are caused by traumatic, but preventable incidents like road traffic accidents, falls or violence. These figures are broken down further below:

• 41% of injuries are related to falls. Of this figure, 12.6% of SCIs occur after a fall from height e.g. falling from scaffolding or on a construction site
• Road traffic accidents are responsible for over 36% of spinal cord injuries. 15% of these cases are a result of accidents involving cars, lorries or buses and over 10% are connected to motorbike incidents
• 11.6% of the statistics relate to sporting injuries. Diving, horse riding and rugby are the main kinds of sporting activity in which spinal cord injuries are most common.
• If you have been knocked over, involved in a collision or had a lifting accident then you are part of the 4.2% making up spinal injury cases. Some of these accidents happen in the workplace, for example, when someone is lifting heavy boxes in a warehouse, colliding with an employee or being knocked down by a vehicle in a factory setting
• Trauma and physical assault make up the remaining portion of the figures

The Cost Of Caring For Someone With A Spinal Cord Injury

If you have been left paralysed from an accident, you will require a great deal of care and support in order to rebuild your life and live as comfortably as possible. The estimated annual cost of this in the UK is £500 million.

As well as the more apparent physical effects, these kinds of injuries often also have serious emotional and psychological effects. Around a quarter of people who leave Spinal Cord Injury Centres are admitted into full care and a similar percentage leave with clinical depression, while 32% suffer from clinical anxiety.

Sadly, there isn’t a cure for these types of serious injury; only recovery and rehabilitation. For most victims, the expenses associated with dealing with a spinal injury are difficult to manage. One way of dealing with these is by making a successful spinal injury claim. If your spinal cord injury was sustained in an accident for which a third party was responsible, you might be eligible to apply for compensation.

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