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About 11,000 people in the United States each year are faced with spinal cord injuries (S.I.P). Whether it’s from diving in what was thought to be shallow waters or a car accident, people are not familiar with what these injuries truly mean; what is a SCI, surgeries that follow, and the actual spine. All people may relate to and click in their heads is the word //wheelchair,// but in reality, is so much more. The spinal cord is split up into four different sections, cervical (neck area), thoracic (chest area), lumbar (back area), and sacral (tailbone area). Each of these have a number of segments in them, so when someone is injured you might hear they broke there, “C-6”. Also, when someone has an injury to their spine, the words “complete” or “incomplete” will follow the break point. To have a complete injury means there is total (complete) loss of sensation below that point, meaning the nerve messages being sent to the brain are cut off, and incomplete meaning partial sensation below the injury break, meaning some messages might make it through. Quadriplegia is when all four limbs are paralyzed and paraplegia is when only legs are paralyzed. 82% of all injuries are males and over half of the injuries range from the ages of 16-30, the most frequent age being 19. As for reasons to these accidents, motor vehicles take the highest percentage of 44% with acts of violence coming after, 24%. Falls is close behind violence with 22%, and the last titled category is sports, with 8%. There are different surgeries patients can chose from when faced with these injuries. It all depends on where the break is, so not every surgery will reverse quadriplegia or paraplegia (although it still goes under weight to release any pinches or reduce pain. The most common surgery is Spinal Decompression. This is referred to as the general type of surgery that relieves symptoms caused by pressure and compression, a common type being the Lumbar Decompression. This is when a small portion of the bone is removed to make more space for the nerve. There has been some medical testings regarding spinal cord injuries. In an article from //the// //Washington Post// in July of 2008, studies towards adult stem cells have lifted a new window of pursuit. Researchers in the United States and Sweden are looking to prove nonsurgical treatments to heal SCI with adult stem cells. A person’s spinal cord only holds a small number of stem cells, which do not “promote regeneration on their own,”, but tests have been followed to growing cells in labs, and show that if returned back to the injury site, can repair damaged nerves.