Emergency Medicine Reports – June 17, 2012
June 17, 2012
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Cervical Spine Injuries: Part I
I see many patients brought by EMS from motor vehicle collisions and ground level falls. The majority arrive with a rigid cervical collar placed by the EMTs or paramedics because of neck pain or a concern about possible cervical spine injury based on the mechanism of injury. If the patient did not have initial pain, most will have developed pain by the time of arrival because of their placement in a rigid cervical collar and on a hard backboard.