Lower Motor Neuron (LMN) - Primary Care Provider Resource for Spinal Cord Injury

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Primary Care Provider Resource for Spinal Cord Injury Heersink School of Medicine

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Areflexic, or flaccid, bladder and bowels occur when the spinal cord injury is low enough to damage the cauda equina and alpha motor neurons. It also occurs in all spinal cord injury patients during the initial “spinal shock” phase and may last days to many weeks post-injury.

Notes:

The spinal cord bladder and bowel reflex arc is damaged in patients with injuries to the cauda equina, lumbar and sacral segments below the conus medullaris.
Patients do not typically transition to an upper motor neuron bladder or bowels
Bladder and bowel anal-rectal sphincter remains flaccid, becomes highly complaint and is characterized by underactivity
A flaccid detrusor or bowel muscle may result in overflow incontinence.

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The University of Alabama at Birmingham Spinal Cord Injury Model System provides this website as an auxiliary resource for the primary care of patients with spinal cord injury.The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90SIMS0020). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.