Managing Bowel Function After Spinal Cord Injury

Managing Bowel Function After SCI consists of a suite of resources to help individuals with spinal cord injury manage their bowel function after injury.

Resources

Videos

Our featured video and brief video clips share information about managing bowel function after sustaining a spinal cord injury. In this video, SCI Model Systems Researchers share how they helped individuals with SCI develop a bowel program.

Factsheets

Bowel Function After Spinal Cord Injury

Click the triangle below to listen to the podcast brief and access the transcript by clicking here.

What you need to know

A spinal cord injury can lead to bowel problems:

Slideshows

Bowel Function after Spinal Cord Injury

After SCI you may have bowel problems such as moving waste through your colon. Bowel problems can contribute to depression or anxiety. You may feel overly concerned about not being able to control bowel movements in public and not want to do things outside of your home. View the slideshow to learn more about bowel functioning after SCI.

Factsheets

Autonomic Dysreflexia

What is Autonomic Dysreflexia?

Autonomic Dysreflexia (AD), sometimes referred to as Autonomic Hyperreflexia, is a potentially life-threatening medical condition that many people with spinal cord injury (SCI) experience when there is a pain or discomfort below their level of injury, even if the pain or discomfort cannot be felt.

Factsheets

Depression and Spinal Cord Injury

Depression is common and can affect anyone. About 1 in 20 Americans (over 11 million people) get depressed every year. Depression is even more common in the spinal cord injury (SCI) population - about one in five people. Estimated rates of depression among people with SCI range from 11% to 37%.

Factsheets

Adjusting to Life after Spinal Cord Injury

What is adjustment?

Everyone experiences changes in their life. Adjustment is how you adapt to, or become used to those new situations. A few examples of exciting changes in life are starting a new job, getting married, and having children. Losing a job, getting divorced, and losing a loved one are examples of changes that can be challenging.