What Is a Cervical Dislocation?

Dislocation of bilateral articular processes of the cervical spine is a typical flexion injury, which can occur at any segment between the neck 2 and the thorax 1, but the most common is the segment below the neck 4. The cervical spine is usually ectopic because of severe blows or stresses to the head and neck in an accident.

Cervical dislocation

Dislocation of bilateral articular processes of the cervical spine is a typical flexion injury, which can occur at any segment between the neck 2 and the thorax 1, but the most common is the segment below the neck 4. The cervical spine is usually ectopic because of severe blows or stresses to the head and neck in an accident.

Western Medicine Name

Cervical dislocation

Affiliated Department

Surgery-Orthopedics

Disease site

neck

The main symptoms

Head and neck pain, restricted mobility, nerve damage, paralysis

Main cause

Head and neck hit

Multiple groups

accident

Contagious

Non-contagious

Whether to enter health insurance

no

Dislocation of bilateral articular processes of the cervical spine is a typical flexion injury, which can occur at any segment between the neck 2 and the thorax 1, but the most common is the segment below the neck 4.

This disease is more common when falling from a height, hitting the head and neck against the ground, or directly hitting a heavy object, causing flexural violence to the pillow and neck, and whip-like injuries can also cause dislocation. When a high-speed vehicle comes to the brakes, The head and neck flexed violently due to inertia. When the head and neck suffered flexion violence, the fulcrum of the cervical spine was located at the center of the intervertebral disc. Because the facet joint facet of the cervical spine was flat and at an angle of 45 ° with the horizontal plane, it suddenly buckled The outer side of the upper cervical vertebra causes the inferior articular process of the upper cervical spine to move forward and tear the joint capsule, and then tilts back and up. As the external force continues and the inertia of the skull weight continues, the displaced lower articular process continues to move forward Sliding, the entire upper vertebral body also moves forward. After the force disappears, three states can be formed due to the contraction of the neck muscles. First, it can be reset, and there may be cervical instability or subluxation after injury. The second is that the cervical dislocation is elastically fixed, and the upper and lower articular processes are dependent on each other to form a top-to-top "dwelling" state. The third is that the inferior articular process of the upper vertebrae crosses the upper joint of the lower vertebrae. Process, forming the form of the facet joints back to back, the so-called "interlocking" state.

Symptoms of bilateral cervical articular dislocation:
Head and neck pain severe head and neck movement limitation Cervical spine pain Nerve root injury paralysis (1) Partial manifestation of the neck was forced posture, due to facet joint interlocking, the head and neck were forced forward flexion, and elastically fixed, head and neck pain The main reason is that when the dislocation state, the tensile stress and tensile stress on the soft tissues around the joint are greatly increased, which makes the pain worse. Due to the mechanical abnormalities of the pain and the injured segment, the neck muscles are obviously spasm; the head cannot be passively moved; the neck tenderness widely.
(2) Symptoms of nerve and spinal cord injury are symptoms of the corresponding segment, such as quadriplegia, lower limb paralysis or incomplete paralysis, and those with nerve root injury show that the nerve root distribution area has skin irritation, pain or sensation.