COMPRESSION EXTENSION INJURY OF THE CERVICAL SPINE. IS IT A STABLE INJURY?
M. El Masry; I. W. El Assuity; and D. Chan Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, UK Introduction: Allen and Ferguson in 1982 described five stages of compression extension injury to the cervical spine; the first stage that was considered as a stable injury involves fracture of the articular process, pedicle or lamina which may be associated with a rotary spondylolisthesis. This fracture pattern, which is not uncommonly missed on the initial X-rays, can be diagnosed using CT scanning especially if patients present with root symptoms. This fracture will be usually treated conservatively as a stable injury. In practice we found out that this type of bony fracture might present later on with subluxation and/or persistence of symptoms even if treated in rigid immobilisation devices including halo jacket. The hypothesis around this fracture pattern will be a hyperextension mechanism combined with a degree of lateral tilt and rotation producing an anterior annular disruption under tension and a un
