I'm paralyzed waist down as a result of an accident.
I have a love hate relationship with my wheelchair. I hate it for what it is. But I'm forever grateful that a device exists which I can use to get around, keep active, and be independent.
Spinal cord injury while not very common still has always occurred..
I wonder how those peoples lives were, say, 300 years ago?
Not just the wheelchair but also other advances like medication for pain and catheters to be able to urinate.
I know these weren't around until recent times. 19th century?
So what was life like for the paralyzed prior to the introduction of wheelchairs and medications to improve quality of life?
Were they seen as NOT part of society? Did they live their lives on bed rest? Did their life expectancy go down considerably?
I'm so intrigued....
Medieval western Europe:
In cases of paralysis or impaired mobility, medical texts prescribe care (treatment/hopeful cure) like applying heat, ingesting various herbs and spices, and the odd instruction to wrap the impaired limb in fox fur or breathe in vapors from the fires of purgatory. Based on modern medicine, I'd guess the first two, at least, were focused towards pain relief to some extent. I've never seen anything about help in urination, but medical texts aren't my specialty so that's not saying much.
Socially, late medieval guilds generally had statutes to provide financially for members who became disabled, due to sickness, old age, or industrial accidents like carpenters who had a house fall down on them (London 1389 for the falling house; most are more general). Poor people without familial support generally ended up begging, although some found shelter in hospitals (shelters) typically run by religious houses. Most paralyzed people probably ended up financially dependent on their families.
As far as getting around, probably the best details come from saints' lives and miracle stories. Some mobility-impaired people were able to drag themselves to shrines (in hopes of a cure) with the aid of crutches, or by crawling. Most stories involve the person being "brought" or "carried" by others--family, friends, occasionally local people they paid. Carrying might mean in a basket, on a horse, in someone's arms, on a stretcher or a litter. A few miracle stories also let us know that the person seeking the miraculous cure had help getting dressed, out of bed, etc. from family members.
I have zero clue about impact on life expectancy. A lot of the sources are concerned with impaired mobility that comes with old age, which skirts the question; the emphasis in the miracle stories is obviously on how the petitioner was eventually cured.
If you're interested in reading more about the Middle Ages, OP: the foundational source on this for medieval is Irina Metzler, Disability in Medieval Europe, although a lot of it is concerned with the theology and philosophy of disability. Her A Social History of Disability in the Middle Ages is probably better for your interests here, but it is cost-prohibitive unless you have access to a university library. Sharon Farmer, Surviving Poverty in Medieval Paris, draws on the miracle stories, so it actually reveals a surprising amount about navigating various disabilities including paralysis.
Not to discourage further discussion of an interesting topic, but you may find some more information in the answers to a past question like How did different cultures in different time periods treat the disabled? I'm not sure any of those directly answer your question, but they are similar and interesting.
Hi! You'll likely get more focused, in-depth answers if you could specify a region/culture/country and time period, but meanwhile, there's a short comment here from u/NurseAngela