C6 vertebrae fracture. Anyone else?

Last weekend I augured my head into the Haflin Canyon trail near Durango.

My rear brake started squealing and vibrating in the first few minutes of the DH. It was really throwing my off my game.

Went over the bars at the worst possible place, likely also subconsciously using less rear brake to reduce the vibrations and squeals.

Cracked my helmet, snapped my head to the R side.

Then next morning was rough, went to work (??) then left and got X-rays that didn’t show shit. A few days later my neurological symptoms weren’t improving much (tingling in the right thumb and unexpected spasms just lateral to the spine, superior to the scapula on the R side). So Thursday morning got CT scans that confirms C6 fracture.

Now, 6 days later the thumb Tingling is mostly gone, but still get crazy shocking pain. Wearing a c-collar 24/7 unless showering, icing or hot-rubbing.

I’m extraordinarily bad at sitting still.

Anyone else experience this sort of thing?Attachment 340807

Scary!! Please sit still. I'd think you need to rest it for atleast a month to let the vert fuse and muscles to recover for that protection before pt. Tendons take a couole years to shrink back to normal and that can be accelerated if you can avoid spasms.C's are scary breaks. Amazing you went to work. Every fracture is different. The nerve impingement is the thing to protect.

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When I crushed T3 they told me 3 months in a brace, maybe longer depending on healing. (I wore the brace for an hour and decided on surgery.) But every fracture is different. Question is how stable it is. Mine was very unstable. Gotta go by what your doc says.

I had a tumbling fall down an steep ice slope into a tree. My arms were paralyzed for a few minutes, no nerve symptoms in my legs. But the xrays showed nothing wrong with my neck, only the T spine. Weird. Somehow I managed to get enough shock to the cervical spinal cord or nerve roots to paralyze my arms without any fracture or ligament damage.

Fuck!!

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They say mine looks stable (radiologist and PM&R doc), and spinal surgeon saw the scans and scheduled me a week out to talk...
So Im hoping that’s a good sign.

Paralyzed arms for a few minutes?? That must’ve been some scary times.

I spiderweb shattered my T10 and did two plus months in traction instead of the recommended surgery. Came out partially paralyzed on my left side for about five months. Thought it would be permanent and that was fukking scary but, for the most part, it healed well. I was also 29 years old when it happened. Prolly be different today. By a long shot.

Thats a good knock. I was lucky with t4,5,6,7 break(5 &6 shattered). No paralysis. Rested for a few months then gtg for ski touring. Not much flexion at ths mid t's and the ribcage stabilized it. Lots of flexion at the si, l3,4,5 that i herniated and compressed so thats the maintenance to this day. Id think id worry about my bobble head with a C fracture. More flexion but id imagine it could be more easily stabilized in time than the lower spine. Hopefully thats the case here

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Knew a guy who had C4, 5, and 6 fused, so he called it 456.

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Originally Posted by splat

Knew a guy who had C4, 5, and 6 fused, so he called it 456.

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Probably a good plan . I dont think id want 3 unstabilized floaters in the neck

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Originally Posted by Tech Tonics

They say mine looks stable (radiologist and PM&R doc), and spinal surgeon saw the scans and scheduled me a week out to talk...
So Im hoping that’s a good sign.

Paralyzed arms for a few minutes?? That must’ve been some scary times.

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I was trying to get some help--yelling for it--and the paralysis went away before I really had a chance to think about it. But my thumbs hurt for about a week. Very strange. (They weren't injured.)

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Originally Posted by grinch

Probably a good plan . I dont think id want 3 unstabilized floaters in the neck

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He said skiing was a bit sketch because he couldn't head plant without crippling himself.

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Originally Posted by splat

He said skiing was a bit sketch because he couldn't head plant without crippling himself.

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Done deal! Thats great he can ski

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2013 I fractured C6, also on a mtb, rock roller into rut, lawn darted into boulder. Still don't like thinking about it and how close it was. Took a few weeks to get diagnosed correctly and did several days of backcountry skiing (I'm such a dumb ass). Got c6-7 fussed and Ti rods, no issues from surgery. Still have left pointer finger and thumb tingle and randomly drop things when I pick up with just those 2 fingers(but they work most of the time). Also get a lot of tightness in neck upper back muscles that twice monthly massage take care of. Get a really good brain surgeon.

Good surgeon helps.
16 year old girl. Multiple injury car accident, nothing too serious. Neck xrays normal and initially no neck pain or neurologic symptoms. After she goes home starts having some tingling in her fingers, more xrays show C spine fracture, I forget what level. Orthopedist fuses her spine, she wakes up quadriplegic. He fused the wrong level. 50 years later I still think about her.

I’m almost 2 weeks post-wreck

Neurological symptoms have pretty much ended, occasional shooting pains in R shoulder but they are less frequent and less intense

Now only real pain right around the cervical spine where the fracture is.

2 weeks down, 6-10 left to go in this fkn awful collar.

Bummed to be missing the very best time of year to be crushing miles on a bike, the mountains are so perfectly beautiful. Fuck. But, glad I’m not in a wheelchair forever.

I hate replaying the wreck in my head, still makes me nauseous. And pissed off.

Mts arent going anywhere. Glad youre doing well, all things considered. Wrecks piss me off as well. I try and keep telling my self it could be a lot worse. Doesnt always work but we have a lot to look forward to

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Yeah it’s a hard script to flip in my head, regardless of how many people (mom and wife account for 50% of) say “you are SO LUCKY” cuz I’m just super bored and bummed.

Vibes. Injuries suck.

Not being active while taking time to heal properly is tough. It sucks sitting around when all you want to do is go out and enjoy being active.

I'm glad you're doing well and on the road to recovery. Let yourself celebrate the milestones and victories (no matter how small they seem) and try not to let any setbacks or unexpected challenges get you down.

You'll be back out there getting after it soon. You can do this.

I wrecked a year and a half ago and I still replay it in my mind. One second I'm traversing on water ice trying to get back to snow and the next I'm sliding downhill head first on my back, trying to self arrest and then rolling over on my pole and breaking it so I must have been tumbling. I have no idea why I fell--might have been a prerelease because it felt like prereleases I've had. I was on ice on 117's so a lot of torque on the bindings. Might have slid on my skis downhill into a rock, but I just don't know. I don't recall losing control on the ice--just going from traversing to sliding. I don't know what the fall looked like or how far I went---I think I went a long way because it didn't take long for patrol to sled me out once I was packaged. It's the not knowing for sure just what happened that bugs me. By the nature of my injuries I must have been tumbling but I don't have a clear picture of it.

@TechTonics, my CT scan looks almost identical but on the C7. Just curious how the overall recovery went? I'm on week 3, not really much pain and the doctor said my back and neck are stable too. We are aiming for week 6 out of the collar, week 12 back to normalish, and month 6 back to ski/MTB.