new random thought/
Posted on: February 19, 2012, at 03:22:53pm

www.30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltumpiNi1k1qbo8reo1_500.jpg

This is a cross-section of your spinal cord. We’re looking down at it from above. The bottom of the page is towards your front, and the top of the page is towards your back.

Now the lesson is this: Paralysis and loss of sensation are NOT the same thing.

You can plainly see two separate branches coming out of each side. Those two branches are the SENSORY branch, and the MOTOR branch.

If you damage one branch, or the part of the spinal cord it comes from, you get loss of sensation. If you damage the other, you get paralysis.

And it is further worth noting that each branch supplies only one discrete region, such as part of an arm or leg.

Obviously you can damage both, but the point I want to make is that being paralyzed does not necessarily mean that you have lost feeling in the affected region. Or vice versa.