Have you ever heard the old joke about how, “It’s not the fall, it’s the landing” that really hurts? Well, that’s just an attempt to make light of the fact that falls are common but landing in certain ways can leave you quite debilitated.
One potential injury is something known as cauda equina syndrome – and that’s something that can lead to a surgical emergency and months of rehabilitative care.
Cauda equina syndrome is a very unique type of spinal cord injury
Falling from standing height on a hard concrete sidewalk or ceramic tiles over concrete in a store can easily lead to bruises and broken bones. It can also lead to herniated or slipped discs in your lumbar region, and that’s the most common cause of cauda equina syndrome.
Symptoms of this condition include:
- Numbness or a “pins and needles” sensation in one or both legs, your rear end, your hips and your inner thighs. This is commonly known as the “saddle area” of your body.
- Pain in a victim’s legs or back is also common, as are weakness and additional numbness in one or both feet.
- Sudden urinary and fecal incontinence is another telltale symptom of the disorder, but victims can also suffer from the opposite problem and be unable to urinate or defecate normally.
When these symptoms come on abruptly, this is generally an emergency. If you don’t receive immediate care and surgical intervention to relieve pressure on the nerves in your back, you could progress to partial paralysis.
However, it’s also important to note that cauda equina syndrome can also come on slowly. You may have barely-there symptoms when you first get up after a fall, but the symptoms may slowly increase as the swelling around your lumbar area starts to compress the nerves further.
Falls are no joking matter. If you’ve been seriously injured in a fall in a store, restaurant, parking lot or office building because of the property owner’s neglect, find out what it takes to get fair compensation for your injuries and other losses.