What is the Difference Between Paraplegia and Quadraplegia?

As a paraplegic, I can tell you that it's actually mind boggling how different we all are. In the rehab I was in, there were paraplegics and quads/tetraplegics. The way the spinal cord has been damaged is absolutely why people can walk and use their arms, even if they are quadraplegic.

The Quads are generally people who have neck/cervical area of the spine problems. Just because some can walk doesn't mean that they can feel in that area, which just goes to show how amazing the human body is at adapting.

I can move my legs to my knees, but interestingly, one leg is stronger than the other in movement, and in the other leg I can feel touch all the way down to my ankle. The big misunderstanding though is that you can still feel your legs/arms internally when paralyzed; often neuropathic pain is like pins and needles. When I had my accident, I knew that I had damaged my spinal cord because I knew where my legs were, but I couldn't feel them when people were touching them. It's a crazy world.

Also, the majority of sufferers are unable to control body organs such as the bladder and the bowel. It is not as simple as saying that all can't control them, but due to the way the body works, the bladder and bowel are no longer able to properly communicate with the brain, no matter where the level of injury is.

It's not surprising that the character on the TV show fathered children, since most paraplegics remain as fertile as they were prior to the accident, and the majority of quadraplegics are also fertile.

@Crispety - I hope they find a cure for this condition so more people affected with this condition could experience the joy of walking again. I always tell my children when they get tired of walking at an amusement park that a person in a wheel chair would give anything to be able to walk again and they usually put their discomfort in perspective and never complain again.

I remember when the actor Christopher Reeve became a quadriplegic because he fell off of a horse. He and his wife did a lot to draw attention to the cause and he probably made a lot of people feel like they were not alone in their struggles.

Too bad that he passed away because I think he became even more famous for working with paralysis research than for his movie roles as Superman. He probably brought a lot of comfort to people when he spoke publicly about his condition.

@Moldova -I think that you are right. They say that adversity builds character and a lot of people do great things and get involved in fundraising efforts in order to find a cure when they become paralyzed like this.

It really does add another dimension to your character. I remember hearing about a man that was run over by a truck and lost both of his legs as a result. He had been a marathon runner and said that he wanted to resume running again although the doctors told him that he would never walk again.

Well a year later with the help of two prosthetic legs he was able to run in a 5k race. It was amazing to see on television. I bet he has more determination now as a result of the accident and knows that there is nothing that he can't do. So a lot of people actually become stronger because of their injury.

@Rugbygirl -I wonder if people that receive a paraplegic injury also go to counseling because it must be psychologically very difficult for some to accept the loss of mobility from their waist down which is really how you define a paraplegic.

I think that this should be a part of the paraplegic rehabilitation because the progress during the paraplegic's rehab has a lot to do with their state of mind. When you are depressed you really don’t feel like doing anything and I would imagine that the paraplegic would experience bouts of depression that can impair their progress.

However, I have also heard that some people emerge stronger than ever because they view life a different way. They tend to appreciate things more and are more genuinely fulfilled.

@Kat919 - I didn't know that, either! I guess that makes sense, because I read about a person who was technically a quadriplegic, but could actually walk and run! (His was a very unusual injury.)

I studied Latin in high school and always think that word origins are interesting. Paraplegic, by definition, should mean that exactly half your body is affected, and quadriplegic should mean that all four limbs are affected. So the way the injuries are defined medically, by the placement of the injury, is really different from the origin of the words.

I had always thought that quadriplegic (or tetraplegic) simply meant that all four of your limbs were paralyzed. I actually learned otherwise from a TV show! A character had a spinal cord injury and became a quadriplegic, but he still had good use of one arm and some use of the other (and fathered a child). Apparently that's not impossible; it's not about the degree of your immobility, but the placement of your injury.