Spinal Cord Injuries and Disabilities: A Review

Spinal cord injury is a neurological event that can result in major disability. Its incidence in Colombia is possibly among the highest in the world, given the current level of violence. The increased life expectancy for this group, thanks to technological and scientific progress with respect to prevention, care and treatment of complications, has created the need for comprehensive rehabilitation services that go beyond functional aspects and enable patients to rejoin society. This demands a holistic approach to the situation, including not only an assessment of health conditions but of everything related to how persons function in their daily lives. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health provides a conceptual framework to address disability and human functioning related to health, through a biopsychosocial approach that articulates the person's physical, individual and social dimensions and their relationship with factors in the environment. This approach, incorporated into an evaluation tool known as WHO-DAS II, is considered an important benchmark for assessing disability associated with spinal medulla injury.