Neurons form a vast and intricate network that makes up the nervous system. Their links, or synapses, are spread throughout the entire organism. The senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and pain are all picked up by the nervous system and relayed to the rest of the body.
It's easy to damage the neurological system. It's vulnerable to harm, and it's hard to repair if at all possible. This makes it hard for the brain to get and send signals to the muscles and senses of the body. Pain, weakness, tingling, numbness, and even blood circulation changes are symptoms that can result from damage to the nervous system.
Your brain and spinal cords are the origin and destination of every neuron in your body. The brain and spinal cord are the most prominent parts of the central nervous system.
While the brain and spinal cord control the body's interior organs, the peripheral nervous system links muscles and sensory tissues. These nerves trigger movement, detect heat, and regulate the body's vital involuntary systems, including the heart and lungs. Insulating cells line the exterior of neurons, making them similar to electrical cables. The cell body is the trunk of a neuron, while the axon is its long tail. The head and the tail connect to the body; the former leads to the brain or spinal cord, and the latter to a muscle or organ.
Central Nervous System Injuries
Brain and spinal cord injuries are among the most catastrophic that a person may suffer. They can be brought on by car accidents, sports injuries, falls, strokes, brain aneurysms, oxygen deprivation, shootings, or explosions. Traumatic brain and traumatic spinal injuries are common names for these types of wounds.
Most damaged neurons in the brain and spinal cord cannot be repaired. However, this section of the nervous system can restructure itself after suffering an injury. The term for this is "plasticity." There is a lot of redundancy in the brain, which is a blessing. When one part of the brain stops working, other unharmed parts can fill the void. If a stroke were to destroy part of your brain, healthy neurons in nearby areas might step in to do the same tasks. Those under the age of 40 with a TBI have the best chance of recovering fully.
Neurosurgeons can't fix the damage already done to the brain or spinal cord, no matter how hard they try. They can, however, stop any more damage from happening. Pressure on the brain and spinal cord can be reduced through surgical techniques. This prevents the damage from spreading.
Peripheral Nervous System Injuries
Traumatic damage to the peripheral nervous system can occur suddenly or develop over time. Injuries can happen in various settings, including in sports, falls, and accidents. Nerve injury can also be brought on by microtraumas that occur repeatedly, like in the case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Diabetes, radiation exposure, alcoholism, viruses, trauma during birth, surgery, immunological reactions, and genetic predispositions can all lead to nerve damage. Injuries to the peripheral nervous system fall into three categories.
1. Neuropraxia
This is the least severe and most typical form of nerve damage. The nerve is undamaged; it is shocked. The ensuing tingling, weakness, or lack of function is only transitory, and with time and rest, most people are back to normal. Surgeries are a last resort.
2. Axonotmesis
We are dealing with a nerve injury, albeit a partial one. The protective covering of the nerve is undamaged, but the neurons inside have been compromised. However, while nerve cells can repair and grow back at a rate of roughly an inch per month, recovery is usually partial and delayed.
3. Neurotmesis
This is severe nerve damage since the protective covering, and the underlying neurons have been snipped off. In the case of an open wound, the neurosurgeon will be able to examine the severed nerve endings during surgery and stitch them back together. If the separation is less than 2 millimeters, the nerve ends can be sutured together. Using artificial conduits or nerve transplants may be necessary to bridge larger gaps. Usually, surgical intervention is necessary.
Injuries involving stretching the nerve are the most common type of nerve injury. These can happen due to various situations, including but not limited to: a trip and fall, a difficult birth, a car accident, a medical operation, or an accident at work. The triad mentioned above of nerve damage possibilities is not exclusive. Although most patients see recovery within six months, an ultrasound and electromyography can help determine if surgery is necessary if the patient does not show signs of improvement.
In the peripheral nervous system, nerve regeneration is more likely to occur. Schwann cells form a unique coating, or sheath, around these neurons. These cells are not present in the brain or central nervous system. Schwann cells aid in nerve regeneration and functional recovery after injury. It's estimated that injured nerves can regrow at roughly 1 inch per month or 1 millimeter daily.
Scar tissue or an opening between the severed nerve ends requires surgical repair. When a nerve is damaged, neurolysis can be performed to help it recover by removing scar tissue from around and occasionally even within the nerve. Primary neurorrhaphy, also known as direct nerve repair, entails suturing or gluing together severed nerve endings. Nerve grafting can fix larger gaps by using nerves from the patient's leg, nerves from a dead person, or synthetic tubes lined with biological materials to help nerves grow back.
Neurotization, also known as nerve transfers, is cutting a healthy nerve and using its neurons to "hot-wire" a more crucial damaged nerve near its entry into the paralyzed muscle. This prevents the muscle from scarring where it was injured and sped up its recovery. To fix injured nerves, a neurosurgeon may employ a few different techniques.
Surgery on the nerves isn't always the best option. Younger people in good health tend to have the best outcomes from these operations. Patients with higher body mass indexes, histories of smoking, diabetes, poor blood flow, or past radiation therapy tend to have poorer outcomes.
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
This type of persistent limb pain is extremely uncommon yet quite painful. It hurts more than it should for the amount of damage done.
Even though they don't directly hurt the limb or nerves, injuries to the head, chest, or abdomen, like a stroke or heart attack, can cause type 1 complex regional pain syndrome. When a limb is crushed, the nerves are directly damaged, which leads to complicated regional pain syndrome type 2. This illness is not well understood, but it is likely caused by inflammation and increased sensitivity in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
Swelling, redness, itching, skin color or warmth changes, and excessive sensitivity to touch are also symptoms. Doctors need to find out why this happens to some people and not others. This extremely painful ailment requires the attention of a large number of specialists.
Rest, physical therapy, desensitization techniques, and pain medication can all be used to treat peripheral nerve injuries without resorting to surgery, enabling the nerve to heal on its own. Those with paralyzed muscles, pain, numbness, and decreased function can now receive surgery with remarkable results, thanks to advancement.