What role does “compression” play in a spinal cord injury? - David Chen, MD

A compression means that there is pressure on the spinal cord. So what frequently happens in spinal cord injuries is—let’s take the example of someone who has been in a motor vehicle crash. Perhaps they have been in the crash, thrown out the car, and the nature of how they’ve fallen has caused the spine, the bone that surrounds the spinal cord, to fracture, and one vertebra bone moves on top of the other. What happens is the spinal cord runs down the middle of that spine, and if there’s movement of one bone on top of the other, the canal through which the spinal cord runs through has now been decreased in size. And now the spinal cord which lies in there may be pressed on by the narrowing of the canal. So compression, in this instance, compression means there is pressure against the spinal cord.