Male Sexual Function after Spinal Cord Injury

Because men define themselves sexually somewhat differently than women do, a spinal cord injury (SCI) affecting their sexuality can also be different. Paralysis that affects a man’s ability to perform sexually not only has physical implications, including fertility, but also psychological ones. Apart from the physical pleasure of sex, men, especially younger ones who sustain a catastrophic injury or trauma causing spinal cord injury (SCI), may become concerned with an inability to attract a mate and to father children.

If a man is in a relationship when the spinal cord injury occurs and it results in an inability for him to perform sexually, he may become concerned that his mate will leave or withdraw. In turn, the resulting psychological stress may result in emotional changes and behavioral dysfunction that may aggravate the sexual and existing emotional problems and require post-acute rehabilitation. When an individual becomes a Client of NeuLife in Mount Dora, Florida, he enters a post-acute rehabilitation environment that is designed and intended to comprehensively address all issues with specialized rehabilitation geared to the Client and to his special needs according to his Client Goal Plan.

There are both physical and psychological dimensions to post-acute rehabilitation that are involved in resuming sex and which, through its multidisciplinary team, NeuLife addresses. When an individual becomes a Client of NeuLife in Mount Dora, Florida, he undergoes a functional evaluation by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals which may include:

• Board Certified Neurologist
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst
• Board Certified Physiatrist
• Neuropsychologist
• Psychologist
• Board Certified Psychiatrist
• Speech Language Pathologist/Cognitive Therapist
• Physical Therapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Nurses
• Certified Rehab Counselor

The multidisciplinary team assembled for the Client’s post-acute rehabilitation is uniquely equipped to help the Client with spinal cord rehabilitation, the sexual effects of a spinal cord injury (SCI) and other aspects of a Client’s post-acute care.

Male Clients have multiple concerns about future sexual function following a spinal cord injury (SCI) that the multi-disciplinary team at NeuLife in Mount Dora, Florida, addresses. Some of these concerns include:

• The ability to attain and to maintain an erection. Psycogenic erections result from seeing, thinking or hearing things sexually stimulating. The brain sends these arousing messages through the nerves of the spinal cord that exit at the T10-L2 levels resulting in tumescence of the sexual organ. Men who have sustained an incomplete spinal cord injury at a low level are more likely to be able to have psycogenic erections than those who have had incomplete spinal cord injuries at a high level.

• The ability to have an orgasm. A study showed that seventy-nine percent (79%) of men tested in a laboratory setting who had an incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) were able to have an orgasm as could twenty-eight percent (28%) of those with a complete spinal cord injury. An incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) is one in which there remains sensory or motor function below the level of the injury; a complete spinal cord injury (SCI). A complete spinal cord injury (SCI) is one where there is an absence of sensory and motor function in the lowest sacral segments.

• Fertility may be affected due to an inability to ejaculate. Some men may experience retrograde ejaculation and some may experience a reduction in the motility of sperm. Both can affect fertility and the consequent ability to father a child[1].

Proper and timely post-acute rehabilitation that may determine the difference between disability and independence is what NeuLife refers to as the “platinum post-acute period” —  the crucial window following acute care that is needed to nurture the whole person to health with specialized, clinically relevant services.

NeuLife’s philosophy is that healing, wellness and personal fulfillment are best achieved in a positive and uplifting therapeutic environment where caring staff encourages, assists and supports each client so he or she may achieve specific goals. NeuLife believes personal fulfillment is equally as important as goals to achieve function and independence.

NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, is an accessible residential post-acute program providing specialized rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Amputations, Burns and other Catastrophic Injuries and Challenging Diagnoses.

2725 Robie Avenue

Mount Dora, Florida 32757