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Cervical spine injuries sustained 'fly-jumping'
Injury Vol. 29, No. 8, p. 627–628, 1996 Copyright © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0020-1383/98 $19.00+0.00
S0020-1383(98)00120-X
Case Reports Cervical spine injuries sustained ‘fly-jumping’ P. Modi and A. J. Hamer Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK Injury, Vol. 29, No. 8, 627–628, 1998
Introduction Fly-jumping is a relatively new pastime where the participant wears a Velcro suit and then runs at a similarly covered inflatable wall. The ‘fly’ becomes airborne by jumping off a small trampoline (trampette) and then sticks to the wall by virtue of the Velcro suit. We describe the cases of two patients who sustained cervical hyperflexion injuries by uncontrolled impacts.
Case reports
Case 2 A 29 year old male was admitted with neck pain but no neurological impairment after a hyperflexion injury when he landed head first in front of the inflatable wall whilst fly-jumping. Radiographs showed an avulsion fracture of the spinous process of C3 (Figure 4). He was treated in a hard collar maintaining his cervical spine in extension and also has made an uneventful recovery.
Discussion These are the first reports of serious injury sustained fly-jumping. Both injuries occurred as a result of hyperflexion of the cervical spine after poorly executed, uncontrolled forward somersaults. In recre-
Case 1 A 43 year old male was admitted with neck pain and paraesthesia in his right thumb after hyperflexing his neck whilst fly-jumping. He struck the inflatable wall having performed a half somersault (Figure 1). X-rays demonstrated a unilateral facet joint dislocation of C5 on C6 (Figure 2). This was reduced in skull traction and subsequently stabilised by posterior fusion (Figure 3). Apart from minor paraesthesia in the C6 distribution of his right hand which settled after three months, he has made a full recovery and has returned to work.
Figure 1. The equipment used for fly-jumping showing subject 1, having become airborne off the trampette, at the moment of injury striking the inflatable wall.
Figure 2. Lateral cervical spine radiograph showing unifacet dislocation of C5 on C6.
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Injury: International Journal of the Care of the Injured Vol. 29, No. 8, 1998
Figure 3. Lateral cervical spine radiograph showing posterior fusion and reduction of unifacet dislocation.
Figure 4. Lateral cervical spine radiograph showing avulsion fracture of C3 spinous process.
ational activities such as these it is often the case that a minimum of instruction is given to the participants. An assessment of the ability of the person to comprehend the instructions or to carry out the tasks is frequently not made. It has been shown that spinal injuries have the potential to be catastrophic and can commonly occur in sports and activities where young impetuous people, inadequately supervised, believe they can attempt tasks beyond their ability1. Silver1 showed that 15 of 121 cervical spinal injuries sustained during sporting activies occurred as a result of using a trampette. It was felt that the control of height and rotation of the body was difficult on a trampette leading to the possibility of uncontrolled movements, as seen with our patients. Silver suggested that increasing the awareness of the risks of cervical spinal injury in sporting activities such a Rugby Football could help reduce their incidence, and Sall2 reported a dramatic decline in them in American football in the decade 1975–1984 due to the impact of improved coaching, fitness and equipment. We feel that more extensive instruction in potentially difficult athletic pursuits such as fly-jumping is necessary. Our patients felt confident in their ability
to perform the jump successfully yet still came to harm. It would appear that safety standards concerning activities such as this should come under scrutiny.
Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the permission of Mr D. L. Douglas and Mr N. J. S. Kehoe to report these two cases.
References 1 Silver J. Spinal injuries in sports in the UK. British Journal of Sports Medicine 1993; 27(2): 115–120. 2 Saal J. A. Common American football injuries. Sports Medicine 1991; 12(2): 132–147.
Paper accepted 26 April 1998. Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Dr P. Modi, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK.
S0020-1383(98)00120-X
Case Reports Cervical spine injuries sustained ‘fly-jumping’ P. Modi and A. J. Hamer Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK Injury, Vol. 29, No. 8, 627–628, 1998
Introduction Fly-jumping is a relatively new pastime where the participant wears a Velcro suit and then runs at a similarly covered inflatable wall. The ‘fly’ becomes airborne by jumping off a small trampoline (trampette) and then sticks to the wall by virtue of the Velcro suit. We describe the cases of two patients who sustained cervical hyperflexion injuries by uncontrolled impacts.
Case reports
Case 2 A 29 year old male was admitted with neck pain but no neurological impairment after a hyperflexion injury when he landed head first in front of the inflatable wall whilst fly-jumping. Radiographs showed an avulsion fracture of the spinous process of C3 (Figure 4). He was treated in a hard collar maintaining his cervical spine in extension and also has made an uneventful recovery.
Discussion These are the first reports of serious injury sustained fly-jumping. Both injuries occurred as a result of hyperflexion of the cervical spine after poorly executed, uncontrolled forward somersaults. In recre-
Case 1 A 43 year old male was admitted with neck pain and paraesthesia in his right thumb after hyperflexing his neck whilst fly-jumping. He struck the inflatable wall having performed a half somersault (Figure 1). X-rays demonstrated a unilateral facet joint dislocation of C5 on C6 (Figure 2). This was reduced in skull traction and subsequently stabilised by posterior fusion (Figure 3). Apart from minor paraesthesia in the C6 distribution of his right hand which settled after three months, he has made a full recovery and has returned to work.
Figure 1. The equipment used for fly-jumping showing subject 1, having become airborne off the trampette, at the moment of injury striking the inflatable wall.
Figure 2. Lateral cervical spine radiograph showing unifacet dislocation of C5 on C6.
628
Injury: International Journal of the Care of the Injured Vol. 29, No. 8, 1998
Figure 3. Lateral cervical spine radiograph showing posterior fusion and reduction of unifacet dislocation.
Figure 4. Lateral cervical spine radiograph showing avulsion fracture of C3 spinous process.
ational activities such as these it is often the case that a minimum of instruction is given to the participants. An assessment of the ability of the person to comprehend the instructions or to carry out the tasks is frequently not made. It has been shown that spinal injuries have the potential to be catastrophic and can commonly occur in sports and activities where young impetuous people, inadequately supervised, believe they can attempt tasks beyond their ability1. Silver1 showed that 15 of 121 cervical spinal injuries sustained during sporting activies occurred as a result of using a trampette. It was felt that the control of height and rotation of the body was difficult on a trampette leading to the possibility of uncontrolled movements, as seen with our patients. Silver suggested that increasing the awareness of the risks of cervical spinal injury in sporting activities such a Rugby Football could help reduce their incidence, and Sall2 reported a dramatic decline in them in American football in the decade 1975–1984 due to the impact of improved coaching, fitness and equipment. We feel that more extensive instruction in potentially difficult athletic pursuits such as fly-jumping is necessary. Our patients felt confident in their ability
to perform the jump successfully yet still came to harm. It would appear that safety standards concerning activities such as this should come under scrutiny.
Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the permission of Mr D. L. Douglas and Mr N. J. S. Kehoe to report these two cases.
References 1 Silver J. Spinal injuries in sports in the UK. British Journal of Sports Medicine 1993; 27(2): 115–120. 2 Saal J. A. Common American football injuries. Sports Medicine 1991; 12(2): 132–147.
Paper accepted 26 April 1998. Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Dr P. Modi, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK.