Symptoms of Spinal Injury
When suspecting a spinal (back or neck) injury, do not move the affected person. Serious complications such as permanent paralysis can result.
When to assume that a person a person has a spinal injury?
There's continuous change in the person's consciousness accompanying signs of a head injury.
The person complains of severe pain in the neck or back.
The person won't move their neck.
There’s numbness or loss of sensation, motor functions or bowel and bladder functions,
The injury applied extensive force on the back or head.
The person complains of weakness.
The person can’t breath.
There’s chronic pain.
The neck or back is twisted or positioned oddly.
What do when suspecting a spinal injury?
Don’t panic.
Call for emergency medical assistance (Dial 997).
Keep the person still in the same position as he or she was found. Use your hands to hold the head and neck and prevent movement or place heavy towels on both sides of the neck.
Making sure not to move the person's head or neck, provide as much first aid as possible. If the person isn't breathing, begin CPR without tilting the head back. Instead, to open the airways, use your fingers to gently grasp the jaw and lift it forward.
If the person is vomiting, choking on blood or in danger of further injury and really need to be moved, at least two people must move them, working together to keep the head, neck and back aligned.
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This information is provided by the NGHA Content Advisory Board and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your health care provider.