Your spinal cord carries nerve signals from your brain to your body and vice versa. These nerve signals help you feel sensations and move your body. Any damage to your spinal cord can affect your movement or function. The three primary roles of the spinal cord are to send motor commands from the brain to the body, send sensory information from the body to the brain, and coordinate reflexes. An injury higher on the spinal cord can cause paralysis in most of your body and affect all limbs (tetraplegia or quadriplegia). A lower injury to the spinal cord may cause paralysis affecting your legs and lower body (paraplegia).