I have a very athletic coworker who went to see an orthopedic surgeon last year for several health problems. Pain and reduced motion in her arms and shoulders being among the issues. Rotator cuff damage or spinal compression was suspected.
While performing x-rays and MRIs the surgeon discovered that this woman had a very dangerous problem in her neck. Her skull and neck were only barely connected, very close to “internal decapitation”, probably the result of a car wreck more than a dozen years ago.
A slip and fall, or the whiplash from even a low speed collision could have paralyzed or killed her if this had not been caught and repaired, and it was discovered only by accident.
If Freddie Gray had a similarly undiagnosed weakness from some long forgotten accident then what wouldn’t have been a life threatening injury to a normal person could have killed him.
My ex severely damaged my neck by throwing me onto my side and then dropping his weight on my shoulder.
He refused to take me to the ER because he knew he’d be arrested.
[prison guard, bad scene, that]
For over a year, I could not turn my head at all.
I had to turn my body to look at anything, like a chicken.
Almost 30 years later, I still can’t turn my head to left very far.
They called it a Hangman Injury, which is basically sideways whiplash.
I have neuro issues and pain that is often crippling.
Reading her story scares me.
If I tilt my head back to look upwards, I nearly black out.
Three years ago, when trying to force a “crack”, a chiro gave me a mini-stroke.
Can’t remember the specific name of the type it was.
As much as I detest the thought, I think I need to have this finally looked at.
:-\