My best friend was in a car accident about 3 weeks ago. He has just got out of the ICU and he is now in the rehabilitation side of a new hospital. The doctor originally said that there is a good chance he will be paralyzed....then once they did the surgery they said it went well and that his vertebrae were dislocated and not crushed so there is a good chance he can walk again...but it will take time.


Now he is awake and starting to gain consciousness he still cannot feel his legs at all. I have been trying to research the statistics of dislocated spinal chord injuries...The doctors still havent talked to him directly about how long it will take. Has anyone here had experience with a dislocated spinal cord injury? What are the chances he will walk again, and how long should it be [now that hes awake] before he starts feeling sensation. I know that because of the surgery swelling and perhaps nerves damaged he may not be able to feel his legs still but it has been 3 weeks.

Any help would be extremely extremely appreciated. If you need more details to better understand the injury I can ask the doctors and report back. Thank you.

We don't have enough info to make intelligent remarks...hence I'll make an unintelligent comment.
It may be that your friend is still in spinal shock and until that subsides there is no telling what the outcome will be. Your friend will have to take it a day at a time but appears to have a positive prognosis to look forward to. That may still require a lengthy rehab process.
I understand you wanting to know right now...but often that's not how it works.

He might have a better chance......but it is still just that CHANCE. No 2 injuries are the same & statistics are only to.......? Um? I'm trying to remember. NOPE! Statistics are just that.....a statistic & they don't take into consideration the human part of the equation.......we're people not numbers.

It'll come back or it wont.......only time will tell. You're going to hear these 3 words A LOT "wait and see".

thanks....He has been in the hospital 4 weeks now. The first two he was on a ventilator, the last two he has started rehibilitation. His thoracic vertebrae were the ones dislocated...I guess its hard waiting...for everyone. He asks about it from time to time; I just tell him give it time and not to worry about that right now. He has alot of other issues like staples and cuts and a broken shoulder...
I just wish there was a more definite way to find out, or a more definite time table. I wish I could tell him something other then just give it time.

After browsing through this site and reading through others. I realize how lucky he is not to have gotten brain damage or to even be alive. As long as his brain is functioning there is no limit to the things he can accomplish.

I found out his Injury T6 T4 and another lower T....