Are leg numbness and tingling symptoms of cervical spine injury?

Question

Hello doctor,

A friend of mine was 81 years old and fell over a brick in his garden. He did not fall from a height, but he hit his head. His neck, arms, and cervical spine were injured. He was lying on the ground for one to one and a half hours before anyone could find him. He tried to get up, but he could not pull himself up. He thought he had only broken his arm, so someone helped him get up. He then sat down on a small wall for about ten minutes and waited for the ambulance to arrive.

When the ambulance arrived, he walked a distance of 82 feet from his garden to the ambulance. An assistant helped him walk, but he died in the hospital four days after the cervical spinal cord transection. When he was lying on the ground, he said he had numbness and a tingling sensation in his legs.

When someone helped him to get up from the ground, he said he could not feel his legs but was able to move them. Did he experience these symptoms due to neck or cervical spinal cord injury? Were they symptoms of cervical stenosis or cervical myelopathy?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

The symptoms suggest spinal cord injury, which may or may not be associated with a neck fracture. Cervical myelopathy is a less severe form of spinal cord injury, but in pre-existing myelopathy, a fall can worsen the symptoms and cause paraplegia or quadriplegia. It is difficult to predict if the injury initially was life-threatening or not as multiple factors decide the outcome but spinal cord injury plays a significant role.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

He could walk because the cord was compressed. However, the injury increased when he was being mobilized. The factors determining the outcome are spinal cord injury level and severity, old age, and associated comorbidities.