Spinal injuries are a very serious, and even life-threatening, problem
facing almost everyone at some point in there lives. If a broken vertebra
pinches a spinal nerve, paralysis may result. The spine is a column of vertebrae
stacked one on the next from the skull’s base to the tail bone. Each vertebra
is hollow through the center where the spinal cord runs through. There are some
signs and symptoms that you should check for if you suspect spinal injury on an
injured person. Head injuries may indicate that the head may have been snapped
in one of more directions. If the victim is conscious, ask them if they feel a
pain when they move their arms or legs. Also, the victim may feel numbness,
tingling, weakness, or burning in their arms of legs. They may also lose control
of their bowls or bladder. However, deformity or an odd looking angle of the
head serves as the best clue to a serious spinal injury. If the victim is
unconscious, you should check for cuts, bruises and deformities; that may serve
as a good clue to spinal injuries. You should also test their responses by
pinching their hands and feet. If no reaction occurs, spinal injury is likely.
The first and most important thing you should do is keep the victim immobile at
all times. The only exeption to that would be if the victim is in a dangerous
place such a burning building or car. The second first aid procedure you should
administer would be monitoring the breathing by using a “jaw thrust.” Be
sure to keep the head and neck still. Victims usually required a neck splint,
but one should not be put on by you. It takes at least two trained EMS people to
put a neck brace on. Since you can not put on a brace, you should stabilize
their neck by putting objects on both sides of the neck. Float the victim gently
to shore and place them on a backboard in the water if they are in water. The
only real precaution that you should take to avoid a spinal injury is to think
before you act. Don’t do anything risky that may put you into a situation like
this; that includes lifting thing that may be too heavy for you to lift safely.
One mistake and you could be in a wheelchair or a bed for the rest of your life.
-Fifteen to twenty percent of head injury victims also have neck or spinal cord
injuries -The spine is made up of thirty three cylindrical bones. -The cervical,
thoracic, lumbar, sacrum, and coccyx are the main parts of the vertebrae.
(Lumbar is the most commonly injured.)