Small Victories
For this third "neuro note," I chose to reflect on "Life as a Quadriplegic: Sophia Malthus." The video is about a girl named Sophia who had a traumatic spinal cord injury where she broke her neck at the C4/C5 level. It left her as a quadriplegic. In the video, she was in a wheelchair, and she had paralysis of the legs and partial paralysis of the arms. The video basically followed her daily life as it had changed since her accident. Sophia sustained a spinal cord injury from a fall off a racing horse 18 months before the episode was filmed and it showed her going back to the race track she where she fell for the first since her accident.
I looked into what constitutes quadriplegia and different ways that it can present itself. I was always under the impression that quadriplegia was complete paralysis, and no movement of limbs. But a person can have use of their limbs if they have partial paralysis, like Sophia. She had partial paralysis in her arms, which allowed for her to perform some of her daily occupations, like self care or dressing. She had hypertonicity in her legs, which made it difficult for her to manipulate her lower limbs with her arms. She also suffered from pressure sores, and she had weak arms.
I really liked the way they followed Sophia throughout her life at that time. It gave a depiction of how a person who has quadriplegia would be impacted during their everyday life. It showed how people with spinal cord injuries have to find ways to compensate for their deficits to continue on and to engage in their occupations. I liked that it depicted therapy as being such an important aspect to Sophia's recovery from her spinal cord injury. There is a scene where Sophia is trying to put on her socks and she talks about how if she can do it faster than the day before, then that is a victory in her eyes. She wanted to gain back any independence that she could. I think the video was succinct in how they depicted a person's life after an SCI. Life has changed, but it does not mean that it has stopped.
References:
Attitude. (2018, May 28). Life as a quadriplegic: Sophia malthus [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voPlqTOdVU8
Spinal Cord.com. (2019). Quadriplegia & tetraplegia: Function, location, and
structure. https://www.spinalcord.com/quadriplegia-tetraplegia
I looked into what constitutes quadriplegia and different ways that it can present itself. I was always under the impression that quadriplegia was complete paralysis, and no movement of limbs. But a person can have use of their limbs if they have partial paralysis, like Sophia. She had partial paralysis in her arms, which allowed for her to perform some of her daily occupations, like self care or dressing. She had hypertonicity in her legs, which made it difficult for her to manipulate her lower limbs with her arms. She also suffered from pressure sores, and she had weak arms.
I really liked the way they followed Sophia throughout her life at that time. It gave a depiction of how a person who has quadriplegia would be impacted during their everyday life. It showed how people with spinal cord injuries have to find ways to compensate for their deficits to continue on and to engage in their occupations. I liked that it depicted therapy as being such an important aspect to Sophia's recovery from her spinal cord injury. There is a scene where Sophia is trying to put on her socks and she talks about how if she can do it faster than the day before, then that is a victory in her eyes. She wanted to gain back any independence that she could. I think the video was succinct in how they depicted a person's life after an SCI. Life has changed, but it does not mean that it has stopped.
References:
Attitude. (2018, May 28). Life as a quadriplegic: Sophia malthus [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voPlqTOdVU8
Spinal Cord.com. (2019). Quadriplegia & tetraplegia: Function, location, and
structure. https://www.spinalcord.com/quadriplegia-tetraplegia
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