Sexuality after spinal cord injury
Complete and incomplete injury

Even people with complete SCI, in whom the spinal cord cannot transmit any messages past the level of the lesion, can achieve orgasm. In 1960, in one of the earliest studies to look at orgasm and SCI, the term phantom orgasm was coined to describe women's perception of orgasmic sensations despite SCI—but subsequent studies have suggested the experience is not merely psychological. Men with complete SCI report sexual sensations at the time of ejaculation, accompanied by physical signs normally found at orgasm, such as increased blood pressure. Women can experience orgasm with vibration to the cervix regardless of level or completeness of injury; the sensation is the same as uninjured women experience. The peripheral nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system that carry messages to the brain (afferent nerve fibers) may explain why people with complete SCI feel sexual and climactic sensations. One proposed explanation for orgasm in women despite complete SCI is that the vagus nerve bypasses the spinal cord and carries sensory information from the genitals directly to the brain. Women with complete injuries can achieve sexual arousal and orgasm through stimulation of the clitoris, cervix, or vagina, which are each innervated by different nerve pathways, which suggests that even if SCI interferes with one area, the function might be preserved in others. In both injured and uninjured people, the brain is responsible for the way sensations of climax are perceived: the qualitative experiences associated with climax are modulated by the brain, rather than a specific area of the body.
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