Living With a Spinal Cord Injury (cont.) IN THIS ARTICLE You may
not have control of your bladder after a spinal cord injury
(SCI). You may not realize that your bladder is full and you
need to urinate, or you may not be able to use the muscles that
control your ability to urinate. Good bladder management can
improve your quality of life and prevent bladder problems, which
is one of the biggest concerns for people who have SCIs. Poor
bladder management can lead to urinary tract infections (UTIs),
kidney and bladder problems, sepsis (a bloodstream infection),
and in rare cases, kidney failure. For information on testing
for, treating, and preventing UTIs, see the topic Urinary Tract
Infections in Teens and Adults. Your kidneys and bladder work
together to make urine and remove it from your body. The kidneys
filter waste products and water from the blood to form urine.
The urine moves from the kidneys through tubes called ureters to
the bladder, which stores the urine until it is full. The
bladder is made of mu