Body Functioning

There’s a saying that ‘Knowledge is Power’—and this section is designed to empower people with spinal cord injury (SCI) by providing the latest information about body functioning. Learn about bone health, self-stretching, bowel and bladder management, skin care and many more topics about your body and everyday life with spinal cord injury.

By gaining a full understanding of how SCI can affect body functioning, you can help prevent illness and complications, and maintain good health.

  • Bladder Management
    It is important for everyone to drink an adequate amount of fluids. Now, because of your spinal cord injury, you need to be more aware of when and how much you drink. To stay in good health, and particularly for regulating your bladder and bowel function, you need to drink an adequate amount of fluids. How much you drink depends on how you are managing your bladder.

    Posted on: Wed, May 18, 2011

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  • Bladder management following spinal cord injury
     Download Bladder Management Following Spinal Cord Injury: What Should You Know

    Posted on: Tue, Mar 15, 2011

  • Bone Density Fact Sheet
    When it comes to your bones, “dense” is good. Dense bones are strong bones and strong bones are healthy bones.

    Posted on: Thu, Apr 14, 2011

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  • Bowel Management
    Keep a record, in the beginning at least, of what your bowel pattern is so that you will know how long it takes for your program to work, how certain foods affect you, how a cold or flu may influence your bowel routine, etc.

    Posted on: Wed, Mar 30, 2011

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  • Bowel program log
     Download Bowel Program Log

    Posted on: Tue, Mar 15, 2011

  • Bowel Program Tips and Tricks
     When people with spinal cord injuries have problems with their bowel programs, it is usually one of two things: the stool is too hard, or the process is too slow. Here are some ways to handle the problems.   If your stool is too hard… • Drink more fluids, ideally water (8-1...

    Posted on: Mon, Mar 7, 2011

  • Conserving Your Energy: Achieving a Healthy Balance Between Activity and Rest
    When you are tired or fatigued, you may avoid doing certain activities. This decrease in activity can lead to weakness and more fatigue. Learning about energy conservation—and how and why it works—can help you to reduce the energy you need for your daily activities and become more efficient.

    Posted on: Tue, Aug 10, 2010

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  • Maintaining Healthy Skin: Pressure Ulcer Prevention & Management
    What is a pressure ulcer? What is the cause of pressure ulcers? How do you get pressure ulcers? How does a spinal cord injury increase your risk of developing pressure sores? These questions & more answered within.

    Posted on: Tue, Aug 10, 2010

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  • Managing Your SCI Bowel
     Workings of a bowel What you eat and drink is broken down by the digestive process into nutrients your body uses and waste that you eliminate. Food travels through your GI tract and the undigested food, (waste your body doesn’t use), moves into the colon from your small intestine. T...

    Posted on: Thu, Jun 9, 2011

  • Nerves, Muscles and Bones
    If you have a spinal cord injury (SCI) at the C8 level or higher, it is likely that your hands have been affected in some way. Your hands may look different, feel different, and work differently than they did before your injury.

    Posted on: Tue, Feb 22, 2011

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  • Optimal Health
    If we asked a group of people this question, their responses would be quite different. Some would say physical health is the key. To them, athletic skills or physical abilities might be what matter most.

    Posted on: Tue, Aug 10, 2010

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  • Pain After Spinal Cord Injury
    Research has demonstrated over and over again that the mind and body work together to produce the experience of pain. This means that your nervous system, your thoughts, your feelings and your behaviour all have the power to either ease or intensify the pain you feel.

    Posted on: Tue, Apr 19, 2011

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  • Range of Motion
     Your body is made up of a series of bones, muscles, and joints. The joints are bone junctions. The purpose of the joints is to provide motion within your body and support or bear weight. Joints are surrounded by muscles, tendons, ligaments, and a joint capsule that provide stability to the joi...

    Posted on: Tue, Feb 22, 2011

  • Saving Your Skin: What You Need to Know
    This section includes basic information that is shared with patients of Toronto Rehab’s Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Program at educational sessions. It should be used along with other resources on the topic of how to prevent skin breakdown.

    Posted on: Thu, Apr 14, 2011

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  • Additional Points About Skin Care
    If you have dry skin, daily cleansing with soap and water may irritate skin. You may need to eliminate or change your soap. Less frequent washing may also be appropriate to protect skin.

    Posted on: Tue, Aug 10, 2010

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