Cervical spine trauma evaluation

Cervical spine trauma is a relatively rare but catastrophic event in sports. These critical situations depend on sports medicine personnel understanding every aspect of sideline care to ensure a safe and successful evaluation. This involves thorough preparation, vigilant observation of the sporting event to detect the possible mechanism of injury, and initiation of the appropriate action plan when a potentially catastrophic injury is suspected. Sideline management of cervical spine trauma requires the appropriate primary survey, with spine stabilization if necessary, secondary survey for concomitant injury, and, potentially, initiation of full spine stabilization with a spine board. In this chapter, our primary focus is discussion of the sideline evaluation of cervical spine trauma, and sideline practices designed to stabilize the athlete and minimize risk for further injury.