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The C-5 vertebra was removed and the C-4 and C-6 vertebrae connected during an emergency operation on Saturday at the MuelMed Medi-Clinic in Pretoria, News24 reported. “He’s making good progress,” a spokesperson for the clinic said on Monday. But doctors are still unsure if he will be paralysed for life.

“It’s difficult to say to which degree he will recover,” Health24’s Handicap Expert, Dr Anrich Burger said. “No two injuries are the same and it depends on the condition of the spinal cord.”

Holm has made considerable progress and has regained some feeling in his arms, ruling out the possibility that the injury has left him completely paralysed. On Monday he was discharged from the intensive care unit at the MuelMed Medi-Clinic and moved to a rehabilitation centre where he will undergo an intensive recovery programme.

What is the prognosis?
The types of disability associated with spinal cord injuries vary greatly depending on the severity of the injury, the segment of the spinal cord at which the injury occurs, and which nerve fibres are damaged. Usually the higher up the cervical spine the injury, the greater the damage. Holm sustained an injury to his C-5, which is the fifth vertebra from the top out of 33 vertebrae in the human spinal cord – which indicates rather serious damage.

According to the website, disabled-world.com, patients with C-5 injuries often maintain shoulder and biceps control, but no control at the wrist or hand. Functions of the head and neck, diaphragm, deltoids and biceps usually stay intact while functions of the thoracic, lumbar and sacral nerves are lost.

If treated correctly, most people with spinal cord injuries regain some functions between a week and six months after injury, but the likelihood of spontaneous recovery diminishes after six months. Rehabilitation strategies can minimise long-term disability. (Health24, August 2007)

Read more:
Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injury: First aid
 

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