In most cases, paralysis is caused by acute damage to the spinal cord following a traumatic injury. Nerve fibres are disrupted and nerve cells at, and around, the site of injury are destroyed.

An injury of the spinal cord not only impacts the ability to move your limbs; the damage also causes a large number of secondary health complications.

People with spinal cord injury face numerous secondary health complications, in addition to impaired mobility and limb paralysis such as: Depression and anxiety, sleep apnoea, pressure sores, bowel dysfunction and many more (see diagram).

By providing a research collaboration network we can help reduce the 17 year timeframe that it currently takes to translate research into clinical practice.

Greater collaboration among researchers is the key to improving the health, wellbeing and independence for the millions of people worldwide who live with spinal cord injury.