#Spinal cord injury

[gayaest]

[OC] Saad 🍰🍨🍫 (description in alt-text)

[plague-parade]

happy disability pride to all of my fucked up spine havers

happy disability pride to those of us who have spinal cord injuries, degenerative disc disease, ankylosing spondylitis, scoliosis, kyphosis, lordosis, spinal arthritis, cauda equina syndrome, tethered cord syndrome, spinal fusions, stenosis, myelopathy, radiculopathy, spondylolithesis, craniocervical instability, spina bifida, spinal tumors, syringomyelia, and anything else spine related

we are so very cool and i love you all so much

[crippled-peeper]

how ablebodied people look at me after telling me they’d violently kill themselves if they had my disability

[gleditsia-triacanthos]

paraplegia is not “disability lite”????

this is based on a recent in-person interaction through a support group.

i was paralyzed, in the grand scheme of things, SUPER recently, so i understand how it feels to be disabled in both an apparent way and a non-apparent way. i’ve had the condition that contributed to my paralysis (cEDS) my whole life, and it causes plenty of other complications.

it’s frustrating to have a non-apparent disability. there are unique challenges that come with having a non-apparent disability. it is ALSO frustrating to have an apparent disability. my treatment by other people has 100% changed since my sci, and not necessarily for the better.

a few ambulatory people seem to have this idea that being paralyzed from the waist down means you’re able-bodied sans your legs and you suddenly have endless empathy and help from society. this, i would hope goes without saying, is absolutely not true.

paraplegia is often caused by some underlying condition, meaning plenty of paralyzed people are also independently chronically ill. even in the case of injury or accident-induced paralysis, the paralysis itself causes all kinds of lovely symptoms, including muscle spasms and bladder retention or incontinence. i have to self-catheterize. incomplete SCIs can cause nerve pain. the act of using a manual chair to get around in public at all times can mean damage to the upper body and pressure sores.

i’ve had a few more doors held for me now that i’ve started going out in public alone, but being so apparently disabled also means stares. everywhere. not just from kids. it means people feel like they can push you out of the way to reach something in the grocery store. it means people will speak to you like you’re an elementary schooler. it means that even on your good days, other people will remind you of your disability and ask invasive questions about your “car accident.”

i’m not interested in the apparent-vs.-non-apparently suffering olympics, i’m just hoping to offer what seems like an underexpressed perspective.

peace + love. sorry for the rant.

[valcaira]

Shoutout to paralyzed people. Those with complete paralysis, incomplete paralysis; Those whose paralysis was caused from accidents, brain injuries, strokes, spinal cord injuries, neurological illnesses; Those with paraplegia, quadriplegia, hemiplegia, tetraplegia. Who were born paralyzed or became paralyzed later in life.

Those who have a carer, those who use a wheelchair full-time, those who use crutches or canes and those whose mobility aid is a hospital bed. Those with incontinence, who wear adult diapers, ostomy bags and catheters. You are not "lesser" for needing care or not being able to live independently. You deserve to live a comfortable life with autonomy and dignity.

We rock. We're fucking amazing. I love you.

[putra-paraplegic]

useless llegs...

[anfisawheel]

[reasonsforhope]

"It’s long been supposed that implants could connect prosthetics to the brain in a way that stimulates nervous system commands with electrical signals.

Now, this idea is closer than ever to realization in a meaningful way, as one man paralyzed from the hips down is able to walk unsupported, even up stairs, thanks to such electrical nerve stimulation.

The patient, Gert-Jan Oskam, lost all movement in his legs after suffering a spinal cord injury in a motorbike accident. After using a precursor technology to gain back a little bit of mobility, Oskam enrolled in a proof of concept study to perhaps make further advances...

Now, with an implant in his brain, when Oskam thinks about moving his legs, it sends a signal to a computer he wears in a backpack that calculates how much current to send to a new pacemaker in his abdomen. It in turn sends a signal to the older implant in his spinal cord that prompts his legs to move in a more controllable manner. A helmet with antennae helps coordinate the signals.

The scientists developing the technology and working with him detail that he can walk around 200 meters a day, and stand unassisted for around 2-3 minutes. Once, Oskam details, there was some painting that needed to be done, but no one was around to help him. With the new technology, he simply took his crutch and did it himself.

Incredibly, after less than a year, and completely unexpectedly, scientists believe the technology closed the gap in his nervous system, and he can now lift himself out of a chair, and even walk with the help of a crutch, even when the device is turned off.

The scientists are planning in the future to work with patients with paralyzed arms and hands, and even with stroke victims, as the “digital bridge” is a massive advancement in nervous system stimulation technology."

-via Good News Network, June 16, 2023. Video via NBC News, May 24, 2023

[j0kers-light]

I was wondering if you would maybe want to write a Joker x reader where the reader has issues with her spine? I had to get spinal fusion surgery a few years ago due to severe scoliosis. And I’m doing a lot better now. But I still have some chronic pain, and difficulties doing things that involve my upper body and lifting heavy weights. It’s also still hard for me to twist without pain, and to use my back to lift things. And I have a long scar going down my whole back that i feel like joker would be curious about. Especially because I don’t tell people about my surgery/pain because I don't want to seem whiny. So if Joker was real I would try to never mention it tbh. But I have to occasionally get a yearly check up x-ray. So I would probably have to explain why on earth I’m going to the hospital for x-rays 🤣

I am kinda curious about how joker would act, and If the reader having lots of issues and weakness would change their dynamic at all. And if he'd be more protective or the same. I feel like he might be more protective just because I have 21 screws in my back. So if I got into some kind of accident where they get loose, they could maybe pierce my internal organs, but that's kind of unheard of and should hopefully never happen 😅😅 Sometimes when I have a lot of pain I do get paranoid that they've somehow come undone and I feel my scar for any bumpy spots 🫠🤢 But that's more of a me thing and my anxiety 😅🤣

Anyways this is totally a self insert and this ended up really long so if you don’t want to write it I totally understand 🥰😅 Sorry I wrote so much😅

His Lighthouse: Screws n' All (LedgerJoker x f!reader)

Screws n' All - Oneshot

KEEP IN MIND THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER UPDATE!

Hey hi anon!! 🖤✨

Please don't hate me for the extremely long time you had to wait for this oneshot (since July 2024?!) I feel ashamed! For your patience, it was an honor to flesh out your self insert and you should know by now, Chaos is all for representation! I must thank you for your patience because sweet Gaia... If you wish to sue, I deserve it.

I hope you are taking care of yourself and being absolutely beautiful!! Chaos hopes you enjoy love! 🖤✨

If you wish to be a part of the His Lighthouse taglist, do let me know via comment, ask, or a quick direct message!

In the many months that you and Joker been together you learned a lot. One, he is still just as much a mystery than when you first met, and two: Joker is very observant.   

Every little thing that involves you, he’s on it. His green eyes flickered with curiosity, scanning the world around his Bunny—searching for anything out of place. Anything that might bring harm to you or expose him, he acknowledged. You became immune to his protective nature that spiraled into toxic obsession.  

Joker had yet to hurt you so what harm was there being loved by him? 

Despite his attentive nature, you did well to conceal your biggest flaw. The long scar running down the expanse of your back.  

You felt it with every shift you made, the many screws that held you together. Days when your anxiety grew too much, you swore you could feel them moving around and frantically rubbed your skin for any bumpy spots. But that was just your paranoia.   

Pain did crazy things to your brain, that much was certain. However, your paranoia was real when it came to everyday activities.  

You waited until Joker wasn’t looking to do something as simple as bending over or to lift something heavy.

You didn’t want to come off as grouchy, but it did hurt. You masked your winces of pain and smiled whenever he asked why you were moving too slow.   

“Nothing J!” you refused to be weak in his presence.   

Joker was the last person to understand your problems. He was notorious for being impatient and judgmental. Any sign of weakness was a turn off for Joker. You knew that and avoided it at all cost.   

But you could sense the clock running out. The day circled on your calendar loomed closer and closer. It was time for your annual checkup.   

You were uncertain about how you would sneak out of the apartment and avoid Joker finding out and following you. He still had a detail team watching your every move anytime you stepped a foot outside—there had to be a way to avoid detection.   

The last thing you wanted was for Joker to see just how weak you truly were. It was still hard for you to twist without sharp stabs of pain to shoot up your spine. You refused for him to see you naked and discover your not so little secret.   

Yet the day crept closer and closer with Joker being as clingy as ever.   

“Whatcha wanna do today, Bun? Hm? Another uhh... movie mar-a-thon orrrrr should we film another cookin’ show?” He bounced on the couch, unknowingly sending pain running up your back.  

Why couldn’t he sit still for once? The constant Gotham rain was not helping your chronic pain either.  

You simply wanted to suffer in silence today. Joker would not have it. Maybe if you closed your eyes and pretended to sleep he would go away? Nope. You cried out in pain when Joker stood up and tugged on your arms.   

The pressure on your upper back had tears pooling in your eyes and Joker instantly focused on you as a result.  

“Y/n?! What? What’s wrong?”   

You fell back with a huff, trying hard to will the pain away.  

Joker’s words quite literally went through one ear and out the other and he didn’t help when he crowded your space.   

Any other day you would have loved to see his bare face, freckles and all, up close. Joker was handsome without his signature clown makeup and those green eyes of his...  

But right now they highlighted how different you were. He was laser focused on finding the problem. You were fed up with it ruining your life. You missed being healthy, active, and full of life. Now you couldn’t do anything without risking pain.   

You didn’t know you were crying until Joker pulled your hands away from your face. “No no, nooooo no no. None of that, my Light. No.” 

 He sat on the coffee table and wiped your tears away with his thumb. “Now, mind uhhh tellin’ me what’s all thisss abouT?”  

“C’mon. My girl doesn’t cry for nothing.” J hummed when you continued to sob.  

Each tear was a knife to his own back. He was never one for consoling others but this was his Light. You were an exception. Joker would have pulled you into his arms and rubbed your back but he knew you hated being touched there.   

He noticed a lot about you.   

Joker never seen your back (ironic, you never seen his) you always hesitated before doing something strenuous, and you hated being touched there. He wasn’t dumb. You were hiding something.   

You never mentioned your aversions and he didn’t pry.  

A person’s past was private but he wanted to know everything about yours. Which was hypocritical since you would never know about his. Whatever! This was different.   

He was serious about his relationship. You were his world. Your happiness was his joy. Your pain was his next victim, and he knew you were hurting.  

He would take it upon himself to rid whatever ailed you if only you would communicate.   

“Bunny.. talk to me huh? Is it... ahh about this Friday?” you stopped crying instantly. Bingo.  

Joker snorted as he scratched his head. You weren’t that smart circling the date in red on the calendar. Talk about being obvious. “Yeah, figured it was somethin’ im-port-ant. Did I do something?”  

“No! It’s not your fault J. I-It's mine.” You wiped your eyes and shifted on the couch with a grimace. The infamous Joker was sitting before you picking his nails, wanting to know if he hurt you.  

The dynamic the two of you had was insane.   

“It’s complicated.” You said.  

“Then maKe it uncomplicated.” Joker hissed.   

You knew that tone. He was getting frustrated. This was exactly what you wanted to avoid. Your anxiety was at an all time high so you acted without thinking things through.   

You sat up slowly to take off your shirt. “Woah! H-Hey uhh whatcha doin’ there doll?” Joker said in a panic.   

He wasn’t fazed by your nudity (he loved your body) but now was not the time for that! You didn’t speak, even as you struggled to raise the fabric over your head. A frustrated huff signaled Joker to help you. 

He leaned forward to help lift your hands up, kissing your nose before it disappeared under the cotton shirt and then off. You were still beautiful with teary eyes. “A goddess.” J whispered.  

He tossed the shirt somewhere in the room and watched as you began to turn around. Try was the better word.   

You twisted about halfway when the weather outside and your chronic pain clashed.

You whimpered and Joker was right there to reposition you on the couch facing away from him. The assistance highlighted how helpless you truly felt.  

It all happened in slow motion. Joker seen some nasty wounds (and created far worse with his bare hands) but seeing the long scar on your back, hit him square in the chest.   

“Oh Y/n...”  

You jumped sensing Joker’s finger trace the beginning scar tissue near your shoulder blades. It ran straight down following the curve of your spine until it ended a little above your tailbone.

You hadn’t seen it in a while but you would bet a few bucks it was inflamed. Ugly.  

Ugh, you hated your scar and it showed by how your shoulders hunched inward. You wanted to hide even if Joker had a front row view to your most vulnerable part.  

His finger came to a rest in the center of your back when you heard his raspy voice. “How many?”  

How did he know? That was a question for another day.  

You caught his jade eyes out the corner of your eye. “Twenty-one. C-Can you see them?!” You reacted fast, trying to reach around and feel for bumps that weren’t there.   

At least not on the surface.   

Joker caught your left hand and squeezed tight. “Why didn’t ya tell me doll?” 

You clicked your tongue. “That I’m a freak? Yeah, I kinda forgot. Silly me. Hi, my name is Y/n and I have twenty-one screws holding me together oh, and I’m in constant pain.” you always used sarcasm to deflect your true emotions. 

A bad coping mechanism that clearly didn’t work on Joker. He’d fix your attitude later.   

For now he just hummed and traced the fullness of your back.

He wanted to memorize every ridge and valley that made you, you. And just when you thought you couldn’t take any more of his soft featherlike touches, you felt his lips searing into your skin.   

One kiss landed on your lower back, another just above it, until twenty-one kisses branded your spine.  

Joker left a final kiss on your shoulder before speaking up. “And? I love ya screws n’ all, Y/n. Did ya think it would bother me? Me?” 

You leaned back into Joker’s chest as he kissed the slope of your shoulder and neck. It felt nice but his words felt even better.   

“I don’t care bout that stuff. I got a won-der-ful goddess in my arms. Per-fect in every way. You love my scars don’tcha, Bunny? Why can’t I love yours?” He sighed onto your skin.   

Okay he did have a point, yet your brain was still ignorant. “But mine are different. What if I get into some accident and they get loose? They c-could pierce my organs or something!”  

Joker rolled his eyes, “Seriously Y/n? Is that even possible?”  

“It could!!” you whined. You squirmed in his hold but he held firm. You weren’t going anywhere. Joker had a lot of work to do in order for you think logically.   

“Mmmm, then I won’t let ya get in an accident. There. Problem solved.”   

He made it sound so simple. You knew you were the safest person in Gotham, right here in Joker’s arms. Half nude with your lover scattering kisses and the occasional bite on your skin. Joker was getting a little artsy given how he kept trying to urge you down onto the couch. 

That was the last thing you wanted and you called his name to get his attention.   

“My appointment is a few days away! Don’t you dare leave hickeys.” You could already sense the embarrassment when your doctor and radiology team found the ‘masterpiece’ J wanted to create.  

He was obsessed with leaving his mark on you. And the clown thought it was funny. Constantly wearing high collars and scarfs in the dead of summer was not amusing. He did stop nibbling on your neck. Thank goodness.  

“Fine, fine. So booooore~ring.” He loudly kissed your check before leaning back on the couch with you in his arms. His warm chest did wonders for your aching back.  

The two of you sat in silence and watched the downpour of rain beat against the window.  

“Ya know I meant it right? I don’t care about that stuff. I’ll uhh go to your checkup with ya if you’ll stop cryin.” 

Now that made you turn a bit to glare at Joker. “You will? How?”   

He looked offended. “I have you knoooow, I’m an ex-cell-ent nurse when I wanna be. I’ll blend righT in. Don’tcha want me there for moral supporT? Hm? I’ll hold ya hand..”  

You don’t have the heart to tell J he wouldn’t be allowed in the x-ray room but the thought was there. Joker was secretly a softie, only for you.  

“Tempting, oh alright. You can come only if you promise not to kill anyone before Friday.” you nodded your decree.

Simple expectations to follow since it was just a few days out. He went much longer without a tantrum.  

Joker visibly cringed behind your back. “Uhh yeah. Before Friday.” 

You smiled and started dozing off, blissfully unaware your lover was panic cancelling a big mission and rearranging his week’s schedule in his head.

He probably just needed to stay at home this week to meet this no-kill requirement. The things he did for you.  

[genderqueerdykes]

i just had the worst fucking cluster headache of my life, i could not function OR rest for about 3 hours, i was just sitting in various spots of my apartment like this >_< while trying to find the darkest spot i could, alternating between trying to sleep and trying to just sit there.

trying to sleep made it worse, somehow? i eventually was able to in the end but for several hours trying to sleep made the pain throb and stab. i took some seroquel and that was able to help me sleep but i could not open my eyes for the life of me, nor could i keep them shut for too long. my right eye / back of my head just hurt like hell for no reason for 3 hours and at several points i just kinda whined and cried a little because there was not really much i could do drinking water didnt help. i ate food, that didnt help

that sucks ass. if you deal with these too, im sorry. people trivialize headaches all the time, but this one resisted an extra gabapentin, which helps with migraines and headaches, and i was still unable to do anything but deal with what was happening. there are a lot of different types and manifestations of headaches. if someone tells you they're experiencing a bad headache, please let them do what they need in order to get through whatever they're experiencing

[gayaest]

A lot of his personal PTSD reactions involve irritation and anger! He doesn’t know a lot about disability culture and community until he meets other disabled people during paravolley practice!

[mindblowingscience]

In a new study in mice, a team of researchers from UCLA, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Harvard University have uncovered a crucial component for restoring functional activity after spinal cord injury. The neuroscientists have shown that re-growing specific neurons back to their natural target regions led to recovery, while random regrowth was not effective.

Continue Reading.

[whatshouldwecallchronicillness]

When I realize I can't get up off the ground...

[crippled-peeper]

hi 👋 can anyone help me pay these copays…. I am drowning in debt currently and I won’t hear the ruling on my disability case until later this winter :( check my bio for more info about me if you don’t mind

thank you so much 🖤💖

[bpod-bpod]

Growing Nervous

Regeneration after damage of the central nervous system is limited. This study finds that suppressing activity of a gene called Lipin1 leads to significant regrowth of sensory and motor nerve axons (the signal-transmitting projections) after spinal cord injury

Read the published research article here

Video from work by Weitao Chen, Junqiang Wu and Chao Yang, and colleagues

Biomedical Research Institute, Shenzhen Peking University–The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, China

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), September 2024

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[latinawheels]

Throwback to 3 years ago. Feeling sexy in bralette and black fishnet pantyhose