Home
Back Pain Blog
My Book
Q and A
Free Resources
My Story
Interactive Forum
Back Pain
Types of BackPain
Acute Back Pain
Chronic Back Pain
Low Back Pain
Neck Pain
Coccyx Pain
Muscle Pain
Pain Epidemic
Herniated Discs
Sciatica
Disc Disease
Pinched Nerve
Spinal Stenosis
Osteoarthritis
Facet Syndrome
Scoliosis
Lordosis Kyphosis
Spondylolisthesis
Osteoporosis
Piriformis Pain
Sacroiliac Pain
Womens BackPain
Fibromyalgia
Pregnancy Pain
Combination Pain
Back Injury
Spinal Cord Injury
Spina Bifida
Recovery
Psychosomatic
Pain Syndromes
Tension Myositis
Back Pain Relief
Treatments
Back Pain Drugs
Back Surgery
Decompression
Chiropractic
Back Exercises
Back Pain Diet
Backpain Products
Knowledge
Back Pain Doctors
Doctor Directory
Anatomy
About C-B-P.ORG
Contact Me
Back Pain Survey
Site Map
Search the Site
Advertising Info
Health Links

XML RSS
What is this?
Add to My Yahoo!
Add to My MSN
Add to Google

cure back pain

Broken Neck

A broken neck is one of the most potentially life altering of all back injuries. The cervical spine consists of the first 7 vertebrae in the spinal column. If any of these vertebral bones is fractured, broken or seriously misaligned, the patient is said to have broken their neck. Any broken spinal bone can be a serious condition, but damage to the cervical vertebrae carries a particularly high risk for life long disability.

broken neck

Anatomy of a Broken Neck

Cervical vertebrae can be easily injured due to their relatively light structure when compared to other spinal vertebrae. The head is a tremendous weight for the spine to support and this weight can act as additional force upon the cervical region in cases of extreme trauma. The spinal cord is not as well protected in the cervical region as in other areas of the spinal column. Therefore, there is a higher incidence of spinal cord injury and spinal nerve injury during cervical trauma than in other spinal zones.

Broken Cervical Spine versus Spinal Cord Damage

Just because a patient has broken their neck does not mean that any damage has been done to any neurological tissue. Bones can be broken without severing or even bruising the spinal cord. Severe injuries to the cervical spine can cause cord damage which might result in catastrophic consequences for the patient. Cervical cord injuries will affect all bodily systems below the level of the injury and a complete spinal cord injury can result in total paralysis from the neck down. This condition was formerly known as quadriplegia, but is now more appropriately named tetraplegia.

Recommendation for a Broken Neck

If you have broken or fractured cervical vertebrae without damaging your spinal cord, consider yourself very lucky. Most bone injuries will heal completely with appropriate medical treatment. If you do have spinal cord damage or even a paralytic condition, there are still many therapies which might help you to regain function. I have high hopes for such cutting edge technologies as stem cell therapy for spinal cord injuries. Hopefully, the scientific, religious and political factions will some day come together and agree that this therapy is a tremendous hope for future treatment of spinal cord damage. Till then, we are all waiting… patiently…
Broken Neck to Back Pain Home 9/5/07 Revised 8/7/08

footer for broken neck page