When I woke up after my spinal cord injury, my belly was bloated.  I asked what happened and I got no tangible answers.  I had a very hard, washboard stomach with strong abs—this was not my body!  What I was told was that I had para-belly which is common among spinal cord injury victims, especially when the thoracic spine has been affected.  Apparently 'para-belly' is an abbreviation for paraplegic belly.

To this day, I have not found an answer to this question.  From my own personal experience; whatever happened at the time of my SCI, the injury affected my bladder and my bowel functions and thus the belly bloat.  I was able to finally talk to my new family doctor and all she could explain to me was that when there is an injury to the thoracic spine everything below the area of injury is affected and most times that affects the bowels and bladder.  Many people not only have the belly bloat but have serious issues with toileting including having to do manual stimulation to both the bladder and the bowels on a regular basis as well as suppositories, enemas, and self-catheterization.   It is a result of the brain being no longer able to talk to these organs.  So how do they function?  Something called sympathetic and para-sympathetic responses.  This results in what is called neurogenic bladder or neurogenic bowels, which I discuss in more detail on my cancer page. 

I will continue to research this topic as I am still not happy with my research.  If you have anything you wish to comment on or share, please do.

I do know from watching videos and doing my own research that a washboard abdomen can be achieved after a spinal cord injury with a lot of exercise, patience and time.  See my page on exercise for exercises to help strengthen abdominal muscles.

With ongoing research, I was able to find the following article which indicates that what I am referring to as para-belly or belly bloat after a spinal cord injury is referred to as 'upper gastrointestinal dysmotility' which is described in detail.

CLICK HERE for the full article.

The following article discusses the subject of gastrointestinal dysfunction after a spinal cord injury which leads to para-belly or belly bloat and a number of other gastrointestinal issues, which unfortunately are a life-long disfunction of the body due to the SCI.

CLICK HERE for the full article.

Kathryn