Episode 28 - A Spine Tingling Tale - Central Cord Syndrome

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We're back!  Have you ever had a patient who suffered a seemingly minor injury and was complaining about weakness in their hands and odd sensations in their legs?  This week we're discussing the most common spinal cord injury: Central Cord Syndrome.  We'll also touch briefly on neurogenic and spinal shock. 

During this episode I mention a technique for placing a C-collar that was a "game changer" in my practice and promised to include a link to the video in the show notes.  When you're done listening, go ahead and check out the video below.  The "sweeping motion" made a huge difference in helping the collar sit better on the patient's neck and has reduced the number of patients that seemingly "can't tolerate" the procedure.  I hope you find it helpful!

C-collar video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydljBEN2RU8

This episode is sponsored by CPR Ready Los Angeles, an American Heart Association Training Site offering BLS, ACLS, and PALS classes as well as California EMT Skills Verification services.  Book your class today at cprreadyla.com!

References:

Ameer, M. A., Tessler, J., Munakomi, S., et al. (2023). Central cord syndrome. In StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. Available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441932/

Brooks, N. P. (2017). Central cord syndrome. Neurosurgery Clinics, 28(1), 41-47.

EMCrit  (2023, February 12). Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). EMCrit Project. https://emcrit.org/ibcc/sci/

Fehlings, M. G., Tetreault, L. A., Wilson, J. R., Aarabi, B., Anderson, P., Arnold, P. M., ... & Harrop, J. S. (2017). A clinical practice guideline for the management of patients with acute spinal cord injury and central cord syndrome: Recommendations on the timing (≤ 24 hours versus > 24 hours) of decompressive surgery. Global Spine Journal, 7(3_suppl), 195S-202S.

Harrop, J. S., Sharan, A., & Ratliff, J. (2006). Central cord injury: Pathophysiology, management, and outcomes. The Spine Journal, 6(6), S198-S206.

Skrabal, R. (2019, October 28)  Central cord syndrome.  https://coreem.net/core/central-cord-syndrome.