Interpersonal violence seen as leading cause of spinal cord injuries in Western Cape

Clients at the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre. Picture: Supplied

Clients at the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre. Picture: Supplied

Published Oct 5, 2022

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Cape Town - Nearly 50% of spinal cord injuries reported to the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre (WCRC) were due to interpersonal violence – such as gunshot wounds and stabbings.

This was revealed following a visit by Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo to the Lentegeur-based facility.

The 240-bed facility treats and rehabilitates persons with stroke or head injuries, spinal cord injuries and amputations, and has 78 beds allocated to persons with spinal cord injuries.

The remaining spinal injury cases were from motor vehicle accidents, falls, TB spine, and other traumatic and non-traumatic accidents.

Spinal cord injury is caused by full or partial damage to the spinal cord, resulting in loss of function below that level. The higher the damage to the spinal cord, the more function is lost.

Loss of function can include challenges to mobility, bladder and bowel dysfunction, inability to regulate bodily temperature, including the inability to sweat below the level of the injury, muscle spasms and sexual functioning, among other things.

WCRC chief physiotherapist Adri Visser said 49% of spinal cord injury patients admitted for care at the facility were due to interpersonal violence, with most cases from the metro due to gunshot wounds, and stabbings in the rural areas.

Visser previously said the majority of people with spinal cord injuries lived in areas that were not conducive to supporting their disability, such as those on the Cape Flats living in second- or third-storey flats. Spinal cord injury patients were left more vulnerable in the event of a fire or other violent events.

Mbombo noted that there was a need for the prioritisation of people with a physical disability living in remote areas, particularly in the West Coast and Central Karoo.

Over the weekend, Emergency Medical Services responded to 5 925 incidents, with the majority related to weapon assaults (927), such as knife stabs and gun violence. Physical assault incidents made up 508 of the incidents recorded by EMS.

EMS and the police attended to incidents in Beacon Valley (45), Tafelsig (52), Hanover Park (34) and Chicago (8) over the weekend.

QuadPara Western Cape general manager and Western Cape Network on Disability chairperson Anthony Ghillino said: “(For spinal cord injuries), interpersonal violence is right on top of the list with people being stabbed, shot and assaulted, and also as a result of motor vehicle accidents and falls.

“More and more people are being injured when falling during mountain bike riding, going over the handlebars, but interpersonal injuries at the moment are probably the leading cause of spinal cord injury that leads to paralysis in South Africa.”

Among clients, Ghillino said, violence (domestic and other) was the leading cause of spinal cord injury in both rural and urban areas of the Western Cape, followed by motor vehicle accidents.

“More specifically, GunFreeSA’s research some years ago found that guns were the leading cause of traumatic spinal cord injury in Cape Town in 2014, which is surprising since South Africa is not at war,” Ghillino said.

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Cape Argus