Am I talking about death here? No, I’m talking about life after a spinal cord injury. Why did I phrase the title of this article as I did? Because for many people who suffer a spinal cord injury, their first thoughts after being informed of paralysis, or wheelchairs, or a severed spinal cord, causing the patient to never be able to walk again, is indeed death. “Why did I even live?”

I know that was one of my earliest thoughts after I was able to understand what was going on. Once I regained consciousness from my three days of coma, by awakening to a breathing tube being pulled from my throat, I was advised that I had an accident.

Maybe a few hours later, it’s hard to recall exactly, I began to comprehend the great distress in the doctor’s face and voice as he communicated to me about how my spine was broken in three places and the bone fragments had severed my spinal cord, and as a result I would never be able to walk again. Maybe it was at that time that I first wished myself dead.

Now its twenty-two years later. I’ve had twenty-two years of using a wheelchair for mobility. I’ve had twenty-two years of “Afterlife.” My spinal cord is still severed. I still have paralysis from chest-level down (T-4 to be exact). I have multiple wheelchairs; a basketball wheelchair, a tennis wheelchair, an everyday wheelchair. Over the years I’ve probably had close to 10 different wheelchairs. All of the chairs, all of the catheters, all of the baclofen, all of the leg bags and tubes, all of the paralysis paraphernalia thanks to one moment in time of loosing control of my car, hitting a guardrail, tree, and house, snapping my spine in three places and injuring my spinal cord.

Wouldn’t it have been better if I just didn’t have this kind of after life and experienced the bog finale afterlife instead? Well, I can’t answer that for sure because I have not been able to compare the two side by side. But I can tell you that you can have a life and a rather rewarding and fulfilling life, if you so choose, even after a spinal cord injury.

© Michael E. Hylton, TheWheeledWorld.org, June, 2006

TheWheeledWorld.org © Michael E. Hylton, TheWheeledWorld.org, June, 2006
Article Submitted by thatarticleguy.com That Article Guy

If you participate in sports for any period of time you are bound to suffer an injury. This includes bodybuilding as well. Let’s look a few things you can do to help prevent bodybuilding injuries and keep your training on schedule.

First of all you need to allow for a proper warm-up before you start working out. Your muscles need a chance to warm up before you do any kind of exercise. Whether you are planning a light workout or a strenuous you need to stretch and warm your muscle up.

Equally important is to stretch again in your cool down. This will help prevent soreness from the work out you have just completed.

Proper technique is important when bodybuilding. Physical laws limit what your body is capable of lifting and the range of motion your muscles can achieve. Bouncing or jerking motions and improper grip can cause the weight to pull your muscles and overextend their range.

This can lead to injuries on anything from minor strains to more severe sprains or ripping of the muscles. Every injury can set you back and prevent you from training for a while.

Having a trainer show you proper technique is important. Knowing your boundaries for the amount of weight you can safely lift will help keep you injury free.

If you are training with very heavy weights there are some exercises that should only be performed with reliable spotters on hand. You can return the favor for them as well.

Lifting heavy weights requires focus on what you are doing. Visiting with friends or watching other people is distracting and can cause you to lose form and drop weights, pulling and tearing muscles. A dropped weight may also fall on the people lifting around you and could cause an injury to them.

A few other things to consider.

- Over training when your body is not in peak shape yet can cause you to lose grip or push your body beyond its ability to handle the weight.

- Eating the right kinds of food can put your body in a situation where it is not ready to lift.

- Getting the proper amount of rest is very important to having a quality workout.

- Over training can have the opposite effect in your progress and can actually wear your body down leading to an injury

- Lifting more weight than your body is ready for is a sure way to injure yourself.

These are a few ideas on preventing injuries. Use common sense and always be aware of what you are doing.

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