Safe sex positions for people with spinal cord injuries

Spinal cord injury occurs as a result of injury or damage to the spinal cord, or nerves located at the end of the spinal canal. Often this injury affects your intimate activities with your partner. Although this injury causes damage to your spinal cord, don't let this injury interfere with your sexual relationship with your partner.

You can still have sex even in a wheelchair

The assumption that it is impossible for wheelchair users to engage in sexual activity is incorrect. Wheelchairs are usually used by those with spinal cord injuries (spinal cord injury) due to an accident.

In fact, you have a spinal cord injury (spinal cord injury) can enjoy sexual activity, can even achieve great orgasms. After spinal cord injury, sexual position is definitely changed because sexual activity will be more difficult to do in bed.

Those with spinal cord injury will lose the function of the legs to support and the hips to push. Hence, they depend more on the strength of their upper body for sexual activity.

However, some sexual positions are easier to perform in a wheelchair. Don't worry, nowadays there are many modern wheels that make it easy for users to remove the armrests of the chair, rotate the leg plate, fold the back of the chair, and lock the brakes so that sexual activity in a wheelchair is easier to do.

What sex positions are appropriate for people with spinal cord injuries?

Determining a sexual position for someone who has a spinal cord injury is not easy. The condition of this injury can have a permanent impact on the strength, sensation and function of the other organs under the injured area. This can completely change a person's life, especially in his daily life.

For example, an injury to the lower back can affect nerve cells and the function of organs such as the legs, torso, including organs in it such as the bladder, and sexual organs.

Nerve damage also includes various aspects, such as the ability to feel the sensation, the ability to move, and including the ability to regulate internal organs for example for the breathing process (if the damage occurs in the spine is high enough).

Consequently, it is important for both the partner and the patient to consider whether sexual positions interfere with breathing, irritate the skin (for example, if too much pressure can cause pressure sores) and irritate the muscles and spine. The partner should be more careful, because the patient may not feel pain or tingling due to being crushed for too long or an uncomfortable position (which is usually easily felt by healthy people).

Spooning

The recommended sex positions for those with spinal cord injuries, especially if you are a man by the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine are positions spooning. Why is this sideways position a good choice? Position spooning helps you to minimize the stress and balance problems that are common to someone with this injury.

Position spooning is the position of a woman sleeping on her side and bending her legs towards her stomach, forming a spoon-like position with the man behind the woman while hugging her body.

If you have difficulty penetrating or moving, use a pillow to help lift your pelvis. When having sex in spooning style, women can lift one leg up and slightly forward to make it easier for men to penetrate. While having intercourse with this sex position, men can wrap their arms around a woman's body to make it more intimate.

Woman on top

You and your partner can also use positions woman on top aka the woman on top. Position the man sitting using a cushion behind his back. This position allows a man with a spinal cord injury not to move much but still enjoy sex.

In engaging in sexual activity, the main thing is that you must feel comfortable with your condition and accept yourself. You know best about what kind of position you are comfortable with. Communicating and exploring various sexual activities and positions with your partner will also help achieve mutual satisfaction. And you have to remember, besides sexual activity, there are many other things that strengthen the love relationship between you and your partner.