There are a whole host of circumstances and situations in which people might suffer a broken neck or back that will cause a serious spinal injury. From sports injuries to car and motorbike crashes, slips, trips and assaults, accidents at work, medical negligence, even infections of the spinal nerve cells, cysts and tumours that press on the spinal cord and damage it.

In the UK alone over 40,000 people are paralysed through spinal injuries with an additional 2-3 people a day suffering spinal cord injury. Despite the severity of many of the injuries endured less than one in six results in complete quadriplegia. The misfortune of having suffered a serious spinal injury doesn't have to be the end of the road for an active person.

As the door on a former life closes, so one to a new one opens

With the right sort support and guidance many sufferers can in fact recover enough mobility to allow them to lead active and fulfilling lives, and for many people it actually opens up a whole host of new friendships and opportunities that may never have existed otherwise. As the door on a former life closes so one to a new one opens. Rather than just waiting on the latest medical innovations to offer hope - stem cell technology for example or new advances in steroids or other innovative treatments such as Brilliant Blue G (BBG) which is a blue food dye that in lab experiments seems to effectively treat spinal injuries - people are out there doing it for themselves.

For example, did you know that many sufferers these days are highly mobile either driving their own modified vehicles or being driven by carers? There are a number of disability insurers and also tailored insurance packages and offer 'any driver insurance' to cover carers. Others travel the world, learn great new skills, start businesses and even get into playing new sports, skiing, water-skiing, sailing and scuba diving. Without doubt legislation implemented over the last few years has also contributed to the quality of life for spinal injury suffers, allowing improved access to public spaces and better protected rights when it comes to issues of discrimination.

A great many sufferers return home to lead relatively familiar lives once their houses have been converted to cope with their new demands. Ramps and widened driveways and doorways provide wheelchair accessibility whilst bathrooms and kitchens are modified.

Getting the right support

Nobody's going to pretend it's easy though, and it's important at the outset to try and make sure that as well as accessing the best medical input and support available that a sufferer is able to benefit from proper legal expertise. Spinal injury victims need the sort of advice and guidance that not only offers advice on accessing the necessary resources, but also has the where-with-all, the expertise and the experience to ensure that victims receive the compensation that they are entitled to. That compensation can make a huge difference when it comes to rebuilding a life radically altered by a spinal injury.

Ongoing expert medical support, carers, equipment, home renovations and all the opportunities sufferers need to fulfil their new potential all demand resources. Resources that only a specialist serious injuries lawyer is in the position to be able to fight for effectively. With that support, spinal injuries victims can learn to live again and enter a new phase in their lives, confident in the knowledge that the financial burdens that come with a spinal injury can be eased.