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Gerard A Malanga, MD
Garrett S Hyman, MD, MPH
Jay E Bowen, DOBACKGROUND- Sports-related cervical spine injuries, while relatively
uncommon, can be season-ending, career-ending, life-
altering, or even life-ending. - The majority of neck injuries are ligament sprains,
muscle strains, or contusions (Cantu, 2000). - The Sports Medicine physician can take steps to help
prevent catastrophic neck injuries in athletes. The
training of physicians who wish to care for athletes,
therefore, should impart an understanding of the
mechanisms and management of cervical spine
injuries. - The majority of athletic cervical spine injuries in the
United States occur in football players, partly related
to the large numbers of participants in the sport. As a
result, most of the sports literature has examined the
epidemiology and pathomechanics of cervical spine
injuries in football players. Regardless of the sport,
the principles for management of athletic cervical
spine injuries remain constant.
EPIDEMIOLOGY- Athletes sustain 10% of the 10,000 cervical spinal
cord injuries that occur each year. - Sports with a greater risk of cervical spine injuries
include diving, football, rugby, surfing, skiing, boxing,
ice hockey, wrestling, and gymnastics (Vaccaro et al,
2001). - While the prevalence of sports-related cervical spine
injuries has not been adequately researched, it is esti-
mated that 10–15% of football players may experience
a soft-tissue or neurologic injury of the cervical spine
that results in time loss from sport (Meyer et al, 1994).