The spinal cord can be compared to a tree; it has a primary trunk of nerve fibers that is protected by the vertebrae (or bones) along your spine, and like a tree, there are many branches of nerves shooting off to the sides to communicate with the other parts of the body.
Nerve fibers work as a kind of superhighway, letting information travel between the brain and the rest of your body. If some part of your highway is broken (i.e., spinal cord), the sensory information is cut off from any part of your body located below the location of the injury, and communication from the brain to the affected areas can’t reach its destination. This disruption in communication is why the injured area determines whether a person will be able to walk, use their arms or breathe independently.
