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The tip of the spinal
cord near the skull is called the cervical spine. Its also called the
skull supporting vertebra structure. The cervical spine is made up of
7 vertebrae bones and there are eight pairs of cervical nerves in
that area. There is a complex network of nerves, muscles, tendons and
ligaments to support the spine. The ligaments of the cervical spine
control the excessive movement of head or neck that can cause serious
injury. The muscles form a balance in the neck region and also
supports the stability.
Any fracture or break of one or more of
the cervical bones is also known as broken neck. The athletes are at
high risk of having this sort of fractures. Considering the force
required to have a fracture of any kind, its estimated that motor
accidents, sudden twist, falls from a height at a bad angle etc can
be the major cause of the cervical fracture.
The complications of
a cervical fracture cannot be predicted by any medical science. It
all depends on luck and the position in which the fracture has
occurred. At many instances the impact of injury was so high that it
caused total damage to the central nervous system or the spinal cord.
Death too has been found in many cervical fracture cases when the
patient gets late in reaching to a hospital and getting the first
aid.
Other complications like decompression
of the joints, breaking of bones, damage to nerve and muscles can
also happen. The damage of nerves can cause complete or partial
paralysis of the body. The treatments of cervical fracture too depend
on the nature of the injury. In minor cases neck braces and rest for
3 months are enough to bring back the normal conditions. While to
manage the severe ones, surgery, traction and other kinds of
treatments are applied.
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