What is a "pinched" spinal cord? a friend was recently involved in an auto accident and was initially diagnosed with a severed spinal cord. shortly following the diagnosis, his doctors said his spinal cord is "pinched", not severed. what is the difference

A : A severed spinal cord would completely detach the nerves, and there would be no way any of the nerves could ever work again. A pinched cord would have some possibility that some nerves could work again. This means there is probably some nerve function coming back for your friend, but who can say how much. Only those nerves that were not destroyed in the accident will recover. Through rehab sometimes people can get function back, and it can take 6-12 months to reach whatever the new neural function level will be. However, after a month or two of rehab you will probably have a general idea how much is coming back.

Spinal cord : A 'pinched' spinal cord means that there is some spinal cord compression, but does not signify the amount of compression of the spinal cord. A severed or cut spinal cord can mean penetrating injury or transection due to fracture dislocation, and signifies drastic damage and neurological compromise. But these are nonspecific terms. Hope your friend is ok!