Paraplegia and Quadriplegia - Back Care Awareness Week 2022

Paraplegia and Quadriplegia – Back Care Awareness Week 2022

We’re taking a slightly different approach to Back Care Awareness Week than we did last year. Last year, our blog on Back Care Awareness Week explained how your back could have an impact on your protection insurance, and we thought it was quite important with more and more people working from home. Working from home can be amazing, but we’ve not all got ergonomic desks and chairs to hand.

This year, we are focusing on paraplegia and quadriplegia, both of which impact the spine.

Paraplegia

Paraplegia refers to the inability to move the lower parts of the body, i.e. the legs. More often than not, a person who is paraplegic will have a wheelchair, though there are of course many that might rely on other walking devices to get around.

When it comes to protection insurance, paraplegia in itself might not cause an impact on the terms that you’re offered, but it’s the after results of paraplegia that insurers might have questions about.

As mentioned, many people who are paraplegic might be in a wheelchair, this could be something that starts some further questions from the insurers. That’s because there can be other conditions linked to regularly using a wheelchair, for example regular urine or kidney infections. Being in a wheelchair can increase the risk of blood clots if you’re sat for extended periods of time, and also make it more difficult to keep on top of your overall health, which at times can cause stress to the heart.

It absolutely goes without saying that this doesn’t apply to every person who is paraplegic. Just looking at the Invictus games and Paralympics, you can see clear examples of how people live long and healthy lives whilst also using a wheelchair. I would even say that their overall health is far better than mine, I certainly wouldn’t be able to achieve what they do.

Quadriplegia

Being quadriplegic means that the arms and legs cannot be voluntarily moved. Insurers will want to know similar things to people that are paraplegic. Most insurers will be interested to know how you maintain your heart fitness and care for your other organs too.

Access to insurance

With both of these conditions, the insurer might have similar questions, though may have slightly more for people who are quadriplegic. Everybody will experience these conditions differently and the insurer will want to hear about how you and your body are responding to your situation, which is why it’s important to know that insurers will also assess each and every application individually. Which is why it can be so difficult to estimate what terms you might be offered without knowing your circumstances.

As with many other conditions, the insurer is likely to request a medical report from your GP (with your consent) so that they can get a clear picture of your overall health. Using this report, the answers on your application and any other further information they’ve asked for, the insurer should then be able to come to a decision on your application and potentially offer you terms.

When you do apply for personal life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection it is really useful to have the following information to hand:

• The cause of your paraplegia or quadriplegia
• The approximate date of when you became paraplegic or quadriplegic
• Details of how much it affects your day to day living
• Any treatments or medications that you take
  
  

Applying for protection insurance with a health condition can seem quite daunting, which is exactly why we’re here to help, and make the process easier for you. If you have any questions then our advisers are always happy to help.

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