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Spinal Cord Injury Statistics

In the UK every year, there are around 1200 people paralysed from a spinal cord injury. There are currently thought to be approximately 40,000 people in the UK living with paralysis. This statistic only shows the people who have been through a spinal cord injury centre, and does not include those who have suffered paralysis and been treated in a general hospital.

In the UK, a person is paralysed every 8 hours.

In the UK, it is estimated that the current annual cost of caring for people paralysed by spinal cord injury is more than £500 million. 21% of people discharged from Spinal Cord Injury Centres go into nursing homes, hospitals or other institutionalised settings rather than their own homes. Around 20% of patients leave Spinal Cord Injury Centres clinically depressed.

(Source: Aspire, Every Eight Hours)

Causes of Traumatic Spinal Injury

Breakdown of Road Traffic Accident Statistics
Breakdown percentages are a proportion of overall number of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injuries

Breakdown of Fall Statistics

Breakdown of Sports Statistics

UK Population 2001

The population of the United Kingdom on Census Day 2001 was 58,789,194 it has been revealed by the Registrars General for England and Wales, for Scotland and for Northern Ireland. The populations of individual countries were: England 49,138,831 (83.6 per cent of the total population); Scotland 5,062,011 (8.6 per cent); Wales 2,903,085 (4.9 per cent); Northern Ireland 1,685,267 (2.9 per cent).

Statistics of Spinal Cord Injuries in the United States

IIt is estimated that the annual incidence of spinal cord injury (SCI), not including those who die at the scene of the accident, is approximately 40 cases per million population in the U. S. or approximately 12,000 new cases each year. Since there have not been any overall incidence studies of SCI in the U.S. since the 1970's it is not known if incidence has changed in recent years.

The number of people in the United States who are alive in 2009 who have SCI has been estimated to be approximately 262,000 persons, with a range of 231,000 to 311,000 persons. Note: Incidence and prevalence statistics are estimates obtained from several studies. These statistics are not derived from the National SCI Database.

SCI primarily affects young adults. From 1973 to 1979, the average age at injury was 28.7 years, and most injuries occurred between the ages of 16 and 30. However, as the median age of the general population of the United States has increased by approximately 8 years since the mid-1970’s, the average age at injury has also steadily increased over time. Since 2005, the average age at injury is 40.2 years. Other possible reasons for the observed trend toward older age at injury might include changes in either referral patterns to model systems, the locations of model systems, survival rates of older persons at the scene of the accident, or age-specific incidence rates. tetraplegia have decreased slightly.

Overall, 80.8% of spinal cord injuries reported to the national database have occurred among males. Over the history of the database, there has been a slight trend toward a decreasing percentage of males. Prior to 1980, 81.8% of new spinal cord injuries occurred among males.

Since 2005, motor vehicle crashes account for 41.3% of reported SCI cases. The next most common cause of SCI is falls, followed by acts of violence (primarily gunshot wounds), and recreational sporting activities. The proportion of injuries that are due to sports has decreased over time while the proportion of injuries due to falls has increased. Violence caused 13.3% of spinal cord injuries prior to 1980, and peaked between 1990 and 1999 at 24.8% before declining to only 15.0% since 2005.

P ersons with tetraplegia have sustained injuries to one of the eight cervical segments of the spinal cord; those with paraplegia have lesions in the thoracic, lumbar, or sacral regions of the spinal cord.

Since 2005, the most frequent neurologic category at discharge of persons reported to the database is:

30.1% incomplete quadriplegia (tetraplegia)
25.6% complete paraplegia
20.4% complete quadriplegia (tetraplegia)
18.4 % incomplete paraplegia.

Less than 1% of persons experienced complete neurologic recovery by hospital discharge. Over the last 15 years, the percentage of persons with incomplete tetraplegia has increased while complete paraplegia and complete tetraplegia have decreased slightly.

Detailed Information from the US can be found at the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC).

General Information

Number of neurons in human spinal cord = 13,500,000
Length of human spinal cord = 45 cm (male); 43 cm (female)
Length of human vertebral column = 70 cm
Length of cat spinal cord = 34 cm
Length of rabbit spinal cord = 18 cm

Weight of human spinal cord = 35 gm
Weight of rabbit spinal cord = 4 gm
Weight of rat spinal cord (400 gm body weight) = 0.7 gm

Maximal Circumference of cervical enlargement = 38 mm
Maximal Circumference of lumbar enlargement = 35 mm

Pairs of Spinal Nerves = 31
Number of Spinal Cord segments = 318 cervical segments

12 thoracic segments
5 lumbar segments
5 sacral segments
1 coccygeal segment

Injury Links

The Matt Hampson Trust - Rugby Accident

Support : Spinal Injury Statistics