Atlas of a spinal cord injury

The six steps

Six steps from how the spinal cord is built to the evidence: the structure, what an injury does, which functions change, how clinicians describe it, what care looks like today, and what research is trying to change. Every card ends in the records this map has read.

1. 1How the spinal cord is builtWhat this organ is, where it runs, what it is made of inside, and which paths the signal takes. Without this the rest of the map does not read.4 plates

2. 2What happens in an injuryThe first mechanical blow, and what continues after it for hours and weeks. It is the second part that most research aims at.4 plates

3. 3Which functions may changeMovement, sensation, autonomic function, breathing — and how the level of an injury relates to what changes. Each function here filters real studies.3 plates

4. 4How clinicians describe an injuryThe words clinicians use: complete and incomplete, the level, the AIS scale, the syndromes. This is educational context, and it is not self-diagnosis.3 plates

5. 5Clinical context and today's careHow an injury presents, which states appear early, which complications are known, and the context rehabilitation works in. Not advice, not a plan.3 plates

6. 6What science is trying to changeThe bridge between understanding an injury and the map of research: the seven directions, the ladder of evidence, and what has not been shown yet.2 plates

Where these explanations come from

Five authorities, cited and linked. No text is copied from any of them: what you read here was written for this product, and each statement names the authority it stands on.

• International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI)

  American Spinal Injury Association. The standard is named and linked; the worksheet, its scoring and its text are not reproduced here.

  Bibliographic facts (CC0) · the address answered when it was opened (2026-09-08)

• Spinal cord injury — studies on the public registry

  ClinicalTrials.gov, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Structured registry data, cited with the record it came from; the registry is not the author of this page and does not endorse it.

  The source's published terms · the address is written down and has not been opened by this programme

• Spinal Cord Injuries

  MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health — a work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

  The source's published terms · the address answered when it was opened (2026-09-08)

• Spinal Cord Injury

  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health — a work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

  The source's published terms · the address answered when it was opened (2026-09-08)

• Spinal Cord Injuries — StatPearls

  StatPearls Publishing, made available through the NCBI Bookshelf of the National Library of Medicine. Cited and linked; no text is reproduced.

  Bibliographic facts (CC0) · the address answered when it was opened (2026-09-08)

• Spinal cord injury (fact sheet)

  World Health Organization fact sheet. Cited and linked; no text is reproduced here, which is what this basis permits.

  Bibliographic facts (CC0) · the address answered when it was opened (2026-09-08)