Cervical spinal cord injury

1. How do compression fractures usually occur? How does it appear on X-rays?
2. What is the most common level of cervical compression?
3. What is the pathology that results from a flexion-rotation injury? Is this a stable injury? How does it appear on X-ray?
4. What is the most common level of flexion-rotation injury?

Answers:
1. Slight flexion of the neck with axial loading, causing rupture of the plates of the vertebra and shattering of the body. Stable ligaments remain intact. On X-rays, it looks wedge-shaped.
2. C5.
3. Unilateral facet joint dislocation with mainly disruption of the ligaments is caused by flexion-rotation, resulting in an unstable injury (if the posterior ligament is disrupted). On X-ray, there is <50% displacement of the vertebral body.
4. C5-C6.