Lower Cervical Spine Fractures and Dislocations eMedicine Orthopaedics

Description: Injuries of the subaxial cervical spine (C3-7) are among the most common and potentially most devastating injuries involving the axial skeleton. Assume a cervical spine injury is present until proven otherwise in patients presenting to an emergency facility with a history of a high-speed motor vehicle accident, significant head or facial trauma, a neurologic deficit, or neck pain.
Synonyms and related keywords: compression fractures, burst fractures, teardrop fractures, unilateral facet fracture dislocations, unilateral jumped facet, bilateral facet fracture dislocations, jumped facets, lamina fractures, spinous process fractures, clay shoveler's fracture
Jacob Goodrich, MD, Thad Riddle, MD,