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Cervical Spine Injuries

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Essential Sports Medicine

Abstract

Approximately 10% of the roughly 12,500 new spinal cord injuries (SCIs) sustained annually in the United States are sports related. The most frequent sports responsible for SCI in descending order of incidence and total percentage of all SCIs are: diving (4.5%), football (1.9%), cycling (1.9%), horseback riding (1.0%), and wrestling (0.5%). After motor vehicle accidents (MVAs), sports-related injuries are the second most common cause of neck-related emergency room visits. Cervical spinal cord injuries are most common among hockey, skiing, diving, and American football. Most sports-related cervical spine injuries involve soft tissue trauma such as ligament sprains, muscle strains, and soft tissue contusions. Fortunately, severe cervical spine injuries are rare. However, physicians who treat sports medicine injuries are often responsible for the emergency care of such injured athletes and must know the spectrum of injuries that can occur. Additionally, sports medicine physicians must be familiar with and recognize that these injuries may become chronic despite early management. Some of these chronic conditions include cervical facet arthropathy, myofascial pain syndrome, cervical radiculopathy, and thoracic outlet syndrome. Proper assessment and management of both acute and chronic cervical spine injures on and off the field is crucial for the sports medicine physician.

Special thanks to first edition authors of this chapter, Dorothy A. Miller, MD and Thomas N. Bryce, MD.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Jonathan Ramin & Richard G. Chang

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, White Plains, NY, USA

    Lawrence G. Chang

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  1. Jonathan Ramin
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  2. Lawrence G. Chang
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  3. Richard G. Chang
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Correspondence to Lawrence G. Chang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Gerardo Miranda-Comas

  2. Princeton Spine and Joint Center, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Grant Cooper

  3. Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Joseph Herrera

  4. Princeton Spine and Joint Center, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Scott Curtis

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Ramin, J., Chang, L.G., Chang, R.G. (2021). Cervical Spine Injuries. In: Miranda-Comas, G., Cooper, G., Herrera, J., Curtis, S. (eds) Essential Sports Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64316-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64316-4_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-64315-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-64316-4

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