Spinal Injuries

Question 1

What are the symptoms of spinal injury?

Answer 1

Pain and tenderness on the spine; weakness in extremities; loss of sensations; numbness or tingling in hands or feet; incontinence; shortness of breath; symptoms of shock

Question 2

Why do we use the spinal assessment protocol?

Answer 2

Rule out the cases where you could be fairly certain they don’t have a spinal injury and don’t need to be immobilized

Question 3

What are the three components of the focused spine assessment?

Answer 3

Is the patient reliable; do they have normal CSM in all four extremities; no spine tenderness or pain when palpated from head to tailbone

Question 4

What is a “reliable” patient?

Answer 4

AOx3 or 4; sober; not distracted; able to focus on assessment

Question 5

How do you test circulation, sensation, and motion?

Answer 5

Circulation: warm, pink digits; pedal/radial pulse; capitulary refill rate < 2seconds
Sensation: no numbness; tingling; or unusual feelings; able to report what the examiner is doing to extremities
Motion: motion in all 4 extremities; able exert pressure against examiner

Question 6

How can you test for spine tenderness?

Answer 6

palpate spine from head to tailbone

Question 7

When should you immobilize the spine? What if you’re not sure?

Answer 7

any time there is an obvious spinal injury or anytime you do not know the MOI, how serious it is, or if they have a spinal problem

If uncertain immobilize

Question 8

What are two ways to stabilize the spine?

Answer 8

prevent head from rolling right to left and prevent chin from ducking dowards

Question 9

What are the evacuation guidelines?

Answer 9

any person with possible spinal injury, any loss of responsiveness (even if recovered), headache, irritability, or other signs of head injury if not improved within 24 hours

Rapidly evacuate if
changes in mental status (irritable, combative, disoriented)
persistent vomiting or lethargy
seizures or visual disturbances
signs of skull fracture