Cervical Spine Fracture and Ligamentous Injury

Spinal cord injury may cause major and permanent disability. The main causes of spinal fracture and injury such as include motor vehicle accidents, falls, gunshot wounds and so on. Spine fractures or cracks in the vertebrae may occcur due to trauma at anywhere along the spinal column and this type of injury is far more common in adults than children. There are several types of spinal fracture. One of the more common types is a compression fracture. Most compression fractures are stable and you can treat it without surgery. Spinal cord injury is a complex problem and it may cause permanent disability and also death in children.

Causes

• Cervical spine strains and sprains may occur due to whiplash injury. Whiplash injuries occur as the result of motor vehicle accidents, falls, sports-related accidents, or other traumatic events that may cause sudden jerk of the head and neck.
• Many causes of spinal fractures in children. But the most common injuries occur when the area of the spine or neck is bent. It may occur due to birth injuries, sports injuries, diving accidents.

Symptoms

• Neck pain occurring at rest or during range of motion +++. Patients may not complain of neck pain if they are intoxicated or have an altered level of alertness or have distracting injuries (e.g., other fractures, intraabdominal bleeding, or extensive lacerations). Neck pain is present in nearly 100% of patients in the absence of these complicating circumstances.
• Weakness, numbness, paresthesias, or pain in a radicular pattern suggests possible concurrent spinal cord or nerve root injury.
• Dysesthesias, paresthesias, or even paresis of the upper extremities may indicate a central spinal cord injury (central cord syndrome) and may occur despite the absence of significant neck pain or abnormal neurologic findings in the lower extremity.

Signs

• Midline neck tenderness ++++
• Neck pain with active range of motion (should not be attempted before radiologic clearance in patients who are not fully alert and oriented or in those who are intoxicated or have a distracting injury)
• Soft tissue swelling is usually not appreciated.
• Weakness or sensory deficit ++ may occur with spinal cord involvement.

Treatment

• You can treat cervical spine fracture and ligamentous injury by improving neurological recovery.
• Manual therapy is also beneficial for the spine fracture, because it help to decrease pain and improve mobility. These techniques such as including soft tissue massage, manually sustained or rhythmically applied muscle stretching, traction applied in the longitudinal axis of the spine, and passive joint mobilization.
• You can also use traction application, it force to stretch certain parts of the body in a specific direction. Traction consists or pulleys, strings, weights, and a metal frame attached over or on the bed. The main objective of traction is to stretch the muscles and tendons around the broken bone to allow the bone ends to align and heal.