What’s the Life Expectancy of Someone with a Spinal Cord Injury?
A spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most life-altering injuries a person can suffer. As with any injury, the severity and expected rate of recovery varies widely from person to person, and there are a lot of variables that affect life expectancy in each individual case. Approximately 17,000 new cases of SCI are reported each year in the United States, and the average age at injury is 42 years.
An SCI at any level of the spinal cord can be debilitating and may be either permanent or temporary, but most of those affected will continue to suffer those effects for the rest of their lives.