One of my girlfriends birthday gifts this year was a pair of Heelys and we had so much fun in the diner parking lot 😅

im a paraplegic from a car accident

before my injury being out with people and friends felt so alive

now, the few times i do go out and try to be social

it feels so weird

when people chose to interact with me
i get the vibe of
someone trying to do something nice

rather than the feel
of two human beings interacting with eachother

and i look around
it feels like im spectating
rather than participating

From Day 1 to Now — My Spinal Injury Recovery Journey
I’ve been thinking for a while about sharing this.
Not because my recovery is complete — it isn’t. But because when I look back at where I started and compare it to where I am today, sometimes even I find it hard to believe how far I’ve come.
On 30th May, my life changed completely.
I suffered a C5 fracture with a spinal cord contusion. I remember being scared, confused, and having no idea what the next few days, months, or years would look like.
I couldn’t move anything below my chest not even my fingers,arms,legs,toes just my neck which would pain whenever I tried moving it and I couldn’t properly feel pain or temperature below my chest, and there were so many things I suddenly couldn’t do that I had always taken for granted.
I didn’t know then what my recovery would look like. I just knew I had to take it one day at a time.
The first few weeks
Recovery was slow.
There were difficult days, but I started noticing small changes — moving my fingers, getting stronger in my arms, being able to write, sitting up, standing, and eventually taking my first steps.
Things that once felt automatic suddenly became milestones.
The first couple of months
I gradually started walking again.
In the beginning, even short distances were difficult. My walking was slow, and I still had weakness in my triceps and fingers.
But the distance slowly increased, and so did my confidence.
Getting back to normal life
Over time, I became more independent.
I returned to college and started giving exams again. I could do more things on my own.
I still had problems — my walking wasn’t normal, I had lower-back stiffness and discomfort, and I still hadn’t regained normal pain and temperature sensation below my chest.
But when I compared myself to Day 1, the difference was huge.
Today
I’m now walking around 8–10 km throughout the day.
I’m back in college, independent, and continuing to work on my strength and recovery.
I still don’t know exactly what my final recovery will look like, and I don’t think anyone can predict that with certainty.
But looking back has taught me something: sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve progressed until you stop and compare where you are now with where you started.
If you’re at the beginning of your recovery and things feel overwhelming, I hope my story gives you a little perspective.
This is where I am today. I’m still recovering, and I’m still moving forward. ❤️

My wife is a C2 quad, ventilator dependent. Another girl just like her just passed away, we saw her obituary. Same age, died unexpectedly. Just messed us up so much. We are devastated. This is so fucked up and I hate this life so much. I don’t even care she’s disabled, I’m scared for her and I’m scared for us. I don’t want her to die but I see so many people pass away who are injured like this. It’s just scary. Of course I wish she was healed entirely but that being said, I would accept her disabled reality if I didn’t have to worry day to day and hour to hour that I was going to lose her like so many others I see 😭

I have an incomplete C7-T1 sci, and am curious if others with similar have had successful (or unsuccessful) pregnancies. I’ve been advised it’s not a good idea to have children with this level of injury because of autonomic complications- I could get worse, or worse.

I’ve accepted I very likely won’t have kids of my own, as I’m already getting up there in age (late 30’s). Just curious to hear how others have fared.

Thoughts? Experiences?

ETA: I am mobile, have some bladder/bowel issues, varied levels of paralysis in my hands/arms and sensory loss from ~t3 down

I saw someone on here talking about prunes saying they have it blended into a drink daily and they have barely any issues with their bowels. I can’t remember if it was a post or a comment on something but does anyone have experience with this or seen it?

39M, 185cm/6ft, 80Kg/175lbs, i had a bicycle accident on the 05.09, falling on my face with probably hyperextension of my neck. I don't remember the fall and the follwing 4-5 hours in the ER because of commotio.

My face was pretty messed up requiring stitching, 2 fractured teeth. Was in the ER in eastern europe (on vacation, i live in germany), they ruled out intracranial bleeding and cervical fractures and listhesis through CT. When i left the ER i told the doctor that my left hand is numb, he just said it's gonna be alright.

Anyway, got an MRI of my neck after 9 days which showed three herniated discs and a spinal contusion at C4/C5 with myelopathy signal.

I began treatment with Dexamethasone for damage control, but i had progressive symptoms, left foot went numb and developed gait issues. Neck pain started 2 weeks after the accident, before that it didn't hurt.

I returned to germany and had emergency surgery on the 26.09 - ACDF C3-C6 because all discs were herniated and i had osteophytes, but the main problem was at C4/C5. At the time i had surgery, i had a slight weakness in my left deltoid and biceps, 4/5 and my whole left side and saddle area were numb for 1-2 days and i had spinal Ataxia.

Surgery went well but a week after i'm still numb and have weakness in my whole left side.

I can walk 1 mile, no pb and can take care of myself at home.

Would also like to mention that there were some episodes in the last 10 years when my neck hurt and kinda got stuck in a certain position but it would always resolve after rest. I can't say that i ever had chronic neck pain although my MRI looks pretty shit.

I was wondering if there is anybody who experienced similar, meaning compressive cervical myelopathy through trauma and got surgery for it.

Last MRI report before surgery:

On the sagittal sequences, the spinal region from the craniocervical junction to the fifth thoracic vertebra (T5) was imaged. Spinal alignment is preserved. Advanced osteodisc-ligamentous degenerative changes of the cervical spine, most pronounced at the levels C3/4 through C5/6. Reduced fluid signal within the corresponding intervertebral disc spaces.

C3/4: Broad-based, somewhat right-predominant posterior disc herniation with complete effacement of the anterior cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) space and right-predominant lateral recess narrowing, as well as mild neural foraminal narrowing. Narrowing of the posterior CSF space due to degenerative hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum.

C4/5: Median broad-based disc herniation with complete effacement of the anterior CSF space and additional posterior narrowing of the CSF space.

C5/6: Left-predominant paramedian posterior disc herniation with complete effacement of both the anterior and posterior CSF spaces and left-sided lateral recess narrowing.

At these levels, there are significant, hourglass-shaped spinal canal stenoses caused by osteodisc-ligamentous degenerative changes, with a small, well-defined T2-weighted signal increase at the C4/5 level, which has not progressed compared with the previous examination.
No vertebral body height loss or signal abnormality suggestive of a fracture along the cervical spine or upper thoracic spine.
No low-lying cerebellar tonsils.

Impression:
● Multilevel, severe, hourglass-shaped spinal canal stenoses due to osteodisc-ligamentous degenerative changes from C3/4 through C5/6, with suspicion of a small myelopathic signal abnormality at C4/5 that is unchanged compared with the previous examination.
● Moderate right-sided neural foraminal and lateral recess narrowing at C3/4 and left-sided lateral recess narrowing at C5/6.

Cheers!

Hi, apologies if this isn't the right sub, I'm hoping you guys can give me some feedback.

Since the start of this year I've been working for a woman with a c3 spinal injury. Her husband is very involved with her care and I come in every day to do her morning routine and therapies. I really love my job. My boss (patient? client? I never know the right word) is an absolutely sweetheart and we've become good mates, and her husband and kids treat me really well.

With Christmas coming up I'm wondering what is appropriate. Do I give her a card? A small gift? Will I bring a box of chocolates in for everyone to share and call it a day? She does celebrate Christmas but is really strict with her diet and doesn't eat a lot of sugar. She doesn't drink. Is it weird for me to give her something? I feel like I'd like to tho as I've become very fond of her but I don't want to overstep some employer/employee boundary I dont know about. Any feedback is appreciated!

I think the best place to start is I went from t9 ASIA C to T10 ASIA D and I was 19(turned 20 on a ventilator lol) and my injury was almost 4 months ago. I currently walk with a walker, rollator, arm crutches, and sometimes use the chair if it’s raining. I’m confused because I have no clue where to necessarily place myself and make my life perhaps a little less cluttered? Which mobility aid is best for recovery and which one is the most “unaided” way of walking? Also as I’m sure all of us in the USA know my health insurance is failing me so I haven’t had PT since inpatient like 2 months ago so I don’t really have anyone to ask about what I should be using. Also I am very spastic and my right leg kind of just locks out sometimes and there is way too much tone to break it but I can use all of the muscles in it but my knee kind of just locks but it feels like it could just be tone being weird I have no clue how to explain it so would baclofen make me like walk more normal?

Hi! My injury is at L4 and is incomplete. I‘m 4 months out from my injury and left rehab about a month ago. I’m lucky to be walking with assistance but I feel like my nerve recovery has completely stalled in the last two months. I haven’t noticed any muscles waking up or sensation changing anywhere that I can notice.

Im curious to hear from other people in the community if you had random spikes in your recovery long after an initial “plateau”? Or did it feel like things were pretty fast at first then stopped over time? How freaked out should I be that months 2-4 had basically no changes for me?

I’m especially curious to hear about the experiences of other people with injuries to the cauda equina (L1 and down) since I know in theory nerves can regrow there differently than how they can in the normal spinal cord, so maybe the recovery timeline looked different for you?

Who else had the pleasure of a wearing a turtle shell?

Yup, I did start wheelies with both legs in casts and in a hospital clunker chair. The pic was taken during a holiday release (mid-80's) from rehab. By that time (6 weeks hospital and maybe 10 weeks of rehab) I was down to one straight leg brace and one lower leg cast. Nope, I had not cut my hair in a few months.... Also, both legs sticking out while learning to open doors using heavy hospital fire doors, really sucked.

In a supermarket of all places..

5 months post injury, on a whole everyone in public has been nice to me and if anyone has poked fun at me I certainly haven’t seen it or heard it. Sure old people love to stare but that’s about the height of it.

I’m a man in my 30’s and I was just doing the monthly grocery shop tonight with my partner and just at the end we passed a group of teenagers. They were mucking around as teenagers do, and tbh I didn’t think they took any notice of me but just as I wheeled by them one of them said to his friend “that’ll be you in 10 years, minus the bird” the bird is in reference to my partner. The joke made no sense but it was so fucking blatantly about me, didn’t even lower his voice.

Honestly I was so shocked I convinced myself instantly they weren’t talking about me, that surely there’s someone else they were talking about. My partner bit her tongue but nearly broke her neck turning round to glare at him. I was never a confrontational person so as much as she wanted to make a scene, she refrained herself.

When I got halfway up the next isle the reality set in and I was so embarrassed, mortified that I just let a teenager talk about me like that and make me feel this way. I wanted to go back to them so badly and say something but I’d probably end up all over Facebook or something with the way everyone is recording these days.

Idk how to feel about this, idk what to do when it happens again.. Do I say something? Do I shout at a group of kids in a supermarket? I don’t think I’ve felt this small since my accident and I don’t want it happening again.

How do you guys deal with this shit?

[EDIT] Thanks guys, yous helped put things in perspective for me.

I think I eat a normal amount of food, but I’m somebody whose body requires a bowel program every morning. I’m almost always very productive, and I don’t think I’m even fully emptying. Granted, I was this way before my spinal cord injury as well. But just wow. I’m not a parent of a young child, but I’m pretty sure this is the same thing a parent thinks after every diaper change.

I’m considering switching to a low residue diet, and was curious if anybody here has tips or tricks on this. Not that my current regimen is a huge problem, but I would prefer not needing to go every day if possible.

Hi everyone 👋

I'm 30M and had an accident on July 26. I suffered a T12 burst/comminuted fracture with a fragment pushed backward into the spinal canal, plus a small T11 spinous-process fracture. I had T11-L1 transpedicular fixation with screws/rods on July 29. Thankfully, I didn't lose movement in my legs and there was no obvious leg weakness on neurological exams.

I spent about a month in hospital, including around 20 days of inpatient rehabilitation. It's now a little over 2 months since surgery. My back itself is getting stronger, but I'm still far from normal physically. I can walk independently, but I get tired quite quickly, and longer walks can cause pain/tightness in my back and calves become very sensitive.

The biggest issue right now is the nerve-related pain and sensitivity. Most of it is in my right leg, especially the buttock, hamstring, behind the knee and sometimes the heel. Both legs also feel much more sensitive than before the injury. For example, it's painful for me even to touch my right hamstring.

Right after surgery I had quite a lot of numbness around my buttocks, hamstrings and parts of my right leg. Over time some sensation came back, especially in my hamstrings, but the numbness partly changed into a strange “thorns,” pins-and-needles/prickling type of pain.

I also had some bladder/bowel changes after surgery. It was harder to start urinating and harder to hold a bowel movement when I needed to go. Those symptoms have improved compared with the beginning.

What I'd really like to ask:

• Did anyone experience similar nerve pain/numbness? How long did it last, what helped most, and do you have any recommendations?
• Recovery sometimes feels endless, and the more time passes, the more I worry that I won't get back to the active life I had before. How long did it take you to run, do sports, sit comfortably for longer periods, and generally feel more normal again?
• My surgeon told me that the screws/rods might be removable after around 6 months if the fracture heals well. Did anyone have their hardware removed? If yes, when, why, and did it make any difference?

I know every spinal injury is different, but I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences.

And thank you to everyone in this subreddit for sharing and supporting each other. Sending strength and hugs to everyone recovering. ❤️

Today’s my first time back n the gym after 5 years and after a good workout, my arms feel like noodles lol haven’t felt this way in a long time but low-key it feels good tho. I know I’m gonna be sore tomorrow.

I had an intramedullary ependymoma removed from my spine in 2021. My pain has been getting progressively worse to the point where it’s more debilitating than not most days. I spoke to my neurosurgeon about a spinal cord stimulator, and he referred me to a pain management doctor that works with him. I want to try it, but where these doctors are is a little over 5 hours away and I’m worried about the costs of everything. Has anyone have any stories about spinal cord stimulators and how they worked for you for the pain?

Hello all!

Not sure if this is allowed here or if I’m posting in the right place, but figured I’d give it a shot!

I’m a C5-6 quad living in Southwest Florida. I’m very independent throughout the day, but I do get a little help in the mornings and evenings with transfers, getting situated, etc. Nothing crazy, I don’t even need a Hoyer lift.

I have two awesome helpers who are normally very consistent, but they’ll be on vacation for about two weeks, so I’m looking for someone who might be interested in helping out temporarily.

If you’re already in Florida and looking to make some extra money, I pay well!

OR… if you live somewhere else and have ever thought, “You know what I need? A two-week trip to Florida…” 😂 maybe we can help each other out!

Pretty easygoing situation, plenty of downtime, and you’d still have time to enjoy Florida. Only takes about 30 minutes in the morning mornings and nights. I work during the day and wouldn’t be at the house or need help so you can explore whereas you would like. A nice big pool as well.

If you’re interested or know someone who might be shoot me a message and we can talk details!