Reeve Foundation Patient Education Booklet on Bladder Management

For most people, when, where and how they’re going to “go” isn’t something that’s given a lot of thought or planned for in advance. When you have a spinal cord injury, that all changes.
It is very common for people with spinal cord injury to experience some kind of bladder or urinary system challenges because of damage to the nerves that connect the spinal cord to the genitourinary system (see image). These nerves are located at the very base of the sacral spine, so injuries that affect S2-S4 and above will most likely impact urinary function. Normal cross-talk between the brain and urinary system is disrupted — and sometimes shut down completely — so the bladder can’t tell the brain that it’s full and/or the brain can’t direct the bladder to empty as it normally would.

A good bladder-management plan is crucial to maintaining and preserving a functional urinary tract, including preventing serious infections and complications of the kidney that can be life-threatening.

Read the full report by downloading or viewing the document.