What, if anything, is spinal shock?

The term "spinal shock" describes the sudden and transient suppression of n eural functions below the level of acute spinal cord lesions, usually in th e setting of trauma, ischemia, hemorrhage, or inflammatory diseases. The sy ndrome of spinal shock primarily refers to motor and autonomic disorders (s ee Young and Woolsey(1) and Gutlmann(2) for reviews) mediated by the reduce d excitability of spinal neurons following disconnection from descending in put.(3) During this state, a flaccid paralysis of skeletal muscles occurs, and all tendon, cutaneous, and autonomic reflexes integrated in the spinal cord below the lesion are abolished or greatly reduced. Following variable periods of time, from several days up to if to 6 weeks, spinal reflexes ret urn and eventually become exaggerated as the syndrome of spasticity develop s (see Noth(4) for review).