Clinical Study on Upper Extremities Type of Acute Central Cervical Spinal Injury

In patients with cervical cord injury without fracture-dislocation of the cervical spine, there is a group having tetraplegia at the initial stage and show a fairly good prognosis. That is, the lower extremities tend to recover first and the function of the upper extremities eventually reappears, with the fine finger movements coming back last. This is the so-called acute central cervical cord injury which Schneider reported in 1954. Within this group, I have noticed a subgroup (upper extremities type) that is slightly different from those with typical acute central cervical cord injury. This subgroup is characterized by motor and sensory impairment only in the upper extremities, and no neurological deficits in the lower extremities…