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Spinal cord injury statistics paint an interesting picture

| Sep 8, 2017 | Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries are harrowing injuries that can cause considerable changes to your life. While some people might assume that spinal cord injuries are often the result of contact sports, this isn’t at all the case.

The most common cause of a spinal cord injury is a motor vehicle accident. This cause represents 38.4 percent of cases. Coming in second on the list is falling. This cause is responsible for 30.5 percent of these catastrophic injuries. Other causes that round out the top five are violence, sports, and medical/surgical causes, in that order.

There are around 17,500 new cases of spinal cord injuries each year in this country. Males are the victim in around 81 percent of these cases. On average, victims are around 42 years old at the time of injury. This is an increase from the average age of 29, which is where this was in 1970.

Breaking down the injuries by race and ethnicity shows something else that is interesting. The majority of cases involve whites who aren’t Hispanic. Blacks who aren’t Hispanic come in second on the list.

More than half of the victims are single at the time of the accident. High school graduates account for more than half of the victims. The majority of spinal cord injury victims were employed when they were injured.

Considering all of these points, it is easy to see why people who suffer one of these life-altering injuries might opt to seek compensation. This can help them to deal with the sharp increase in expenses that often come with this injury.

Source: National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, “Spinal Cord Injury Facts and Figures at a Glance 2017,” accessed Sep. 08, 2017

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