Cancer afflicts so many people around the world and it is usually treatable when detected early but can prove fatal during the last stages. However, the physical complications of this malady are an ordeal to be endured. One resulting physiological condition could be compression of the spinal cord – a neurological issue that may be corrected once the culprit is detected and eliminated early. Physiotherapy and spinal cord compression recovery may not necessarily go together but the former would serve essential benefits during the recuperation process.

Spinal cord compression is an event that may occur as a result of various conditions. Up to thirty percent of people with various kinds of cancer may develop this kind of condition. Annually, there are about twenty thousand people in the United States who suffer from this complication. This figure is approximately about five to ten percent of the number of people who have cancer. Fact is that SSC is the most frequent complication of cancer on the nervous system next to brain metastases. As cancer progresses the tumor cells invade neighboring tissues and then metastasize in these areas.

Frequently, cancer of the breast, prostate, kidney, and lungs most likely would reach the spinal cord. Other tumor growths like melanoma, myeloma, neuroblastoma, and sarcomas may result in SCC also. This compression may result from displacement by the growing tumor. In other cases, the malignant tissue could encase the spinal cord. This causes slow injury to the spinal cord and could impair nerve function in the long run.

Primarily, treatment can only be obtained from drugs and surgery (for cases when the cancer no longer responds to medication). After these procedures become successful, the patient undergoes rehabilitation – a recovery plan that involves putting all the systems back to normal functioning as much as possible. Restoration of muscular function, mobility and coordination may be achieved through physiotherapy and spinal cord compression may be treated by drugs, radiation therapy, or surgery.

Any case of spinal cord compression is considered to be a medical crisis that needs to be urgently attended to regardless of the primary cause. The condition requires immediate diagnosis and especially treatment to prevent ensuing irreparable injury. In severe and advanced cases, paralysis and reduced sensation below the area of compression may occur. For instance, the legs may lose mobility. This may be accompanied by inability to control defecation and urination (incontinence) or, in other cases, retention of the urine. Diagnosis of the condition may be through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and x-ray, which reveals tumor growth.

Assisting the patient to walk through gait training and use of devices like walkers and crutches is one of the objectives of physiotherapy, and spinal cord compression recovery should follow once treatment and rehabilitation plan has been appropriately undergone.