Severe cervical spinal cord injuries related to rugby union and league football in New South Wales, 1984-1996

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency and circumstances of serious cervical cord injuries associated with rugby union and league football in New South Wales. DESIGN: Retrospective review of patients with rugby football-related cervical spinal cord injuries. SETTING: The two central spinal units in NSW, from January 1984 to July 1996. OUTCOME MEASURES: Admission to spinal units; injury resulting in permanent tetraplegia. RESULTS: During the review period, 115 rugby football players (56 union and 59 league) were admitted to the spinal units because of cervical spinal cord injuries. 49 patients had resultant permanent neurological deficits (complete tetraplegia [quadriplegia])--26 associated with rugby union and 23 with rugby league. Two patients died of injury sequelae within two weeks of admission. There was no significant change in the rate of football-related admissions to spinal units for either code. There was a small decline in the number (from 15 in 1984 to 1987 to 7 in 1992 to 1996) and incidence (from 1.2 to 0.5 per 10,000 participants) of patients with tetraplegia associated with rugby union. When this decline was tested as a trend over the years, it was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.06). No significant trend was found in the tetraplegia data associated with rugby league. Cervical spinal cord injuries leading to complete tetraplegia were most commonly associated with scrum-like plays in union and with tackles in league. CONCLUSION: Serious cervical spinal injuries associated with both codes of rugby continue to occur in NSW. Rugby football in its various forms is still an inherently dangerous game.     

Rugby injuries to the cervical spine and spinal cord: a 10-year review

A 10-year review (1987-1996) of injuries sustained to the spine and spinal cord in rugby players with resultant paralysis has been undertaken. This article reviews that the incidence of serious rugby spine and spinal cord injuries in South Africa has increased over the 10-year period reviewed, despite stringent new rules instituted in an attempt to decrease the incidence of these injuries. The mechanisms of injury, as previously reported, remain the same as well as the phases of game responsible for injury of the tight scrum, tackle, rucks, and mauls. Two new observations are reported: the first is related to the occurrence of spinal cord concussion with transient paralysis, and the second is related to the increased incidence of osteoarthritis of the cervical spine in rugby players.     

Sport-related dental injury claims to the New Zealand Accident Rehabilitation & Compensation Insurance Corporation, 1993-1996: analysis of the 10 most common sports, excluding rugby union

A large number of New Zealanders participate in sport, either formally or informally; sporting injuries are common. In New Zealand, the Accident Rehabilitation & Compensation Insurance Corporation (ACC) is the main organisation that covers sports-related dental claims. Rugby union claims are the most common. The ACC's national data from 1993 to 1996 relating to dental claims for sports injuries (excluding rugby union) were analysed. This study identified 45 other sports in which participants are also at risk for dental injuries. Total claims per sport for each year were determined, and the "top 10" sports for claims per year were identified and compared for any change over the years studied. The top 10 sports for 1993 and 1994 were, in descending order: swimming, rugby league, basketball, cricket, hockey, soccer, netball, squash, softball-baseball, and tennis. Data for 1995 and 1996 revealed a similar trend, except that touch rugby displaced tennis as the tenth-ranked sport. The most common age group for claims was the age group 10-19 years, with a male:female ratio of approximately 2:1. Many sports, in addition to rugby union, place their participants at risk of dental injury. Awareness of prevention of dental injuries should be more widely promoted for all sports.     

Sprained ankle syndrome: prevalence and analysis of 639 acute injuries

OBJECTIVE: To document injury rates in professional rugby players in the Rugby Super 12 competition and to act as a pilot study for future studies of rugby injuries. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study encompassing the 1997 Super 12 rugby season. SETTING: A New Zealand Super 12 rugby squad. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS: 25 professional rugby players (replacement players were used for unavailable players, so although 30 different players were used during the season, there were only 25 in the squad at any one time). OUTCOME MEASURES: An "injury" was defined as something that prevented a player from taking part in two training sessions, from playing the next week, or something requiring special medical treatment (suturing or special investigations). An injury was "significant" if it prevented the player from being able to play one week after sustaining it (that is, if it made the player miss the next match). RESULTS: The overall injury rate was 120/1000 player hours. The rate of significant injuries was 45/1000 player hours. Those playing the position of "forward" had a higher overall injury rate than other players, but there was no difference in significant injury rate between the forwards and the backs. Injuries that caused players to miss game time occurred almost exclusively during the pre-season program or in the final third of the season. The majority of injuries were musculo-tendinous sprains or strains. The phase of play responsible for the majority of injuries was the tackle. The most frequently injured body part was the head and face. No catastrophic injuries occurred during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Injury rates increase with increasing grade of rugby, injury rates in the Super 12 competition being higher than in first grade rugby. There is very little quality data on rugby injuries, and the few studies available use different methods of data collection and injury definition. There is a pressing need for the collection of accurate ongoing epidemiological data on injuries in rugby.     

Annual league tables of mortality in neonatal intensive care units: longitudinal study. International Neonatal Network and the Scottish Neonatal Consultants and Nurses Collaborative Study Group

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether crude league tables of mortality and league tables of risk adjusted mortality accurately reflect the performance of hospitals. DESIGN: Longitudinal study of mortality occurring in hospital. SETTING: 9 neonatal intensive care units in the United Kingdom. SUBJECTS: 2671 very low birth weight or preterm infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units between 1988 and 1994. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Crude hospital mortality and hospital mortality adjusted using the clinical risk index for babies (CRIB) score. RESULTS: Hospitals had wide and overlapping confidence intervals when ranked by mortality in annual league tables; this made it impossible to discriminate between hospitals reliably. In most years there was no significant difference between hospitals, only random variation. The apparent performance of individual hospitals fluctuated substantially from year to year. CONCLUSIONS: Annual league tables are not reliable indicators of performance or best practice; they do not reflect consistent differences between hospitals. Any action prompted by the annual league tables would have been equally likely to have been beneficial, detrimental, or irrelevant. Mortality should be compared between groups of hospitals using specific criteria-such as differences in the volume of patients, staffing policy, training of staff, or aspects of clinical practice-after adjusting for risk. This will produce more reliable estimates with narrower confidence intervals, and more reliable and rapid conclusions.     

Mortality and neurologic morbidity after repair of traumatic aortic disruption

BACKGROUND: Traumatic disruption of the thoracic aorta frequently results in death before operative repair. The determinants of mortality after repair, however, are uncertain. In addition, intraoperative strategies for reducing the incidence of spinal cord injury remain controversial. METHODS: The records of 45 consecutive patients undergoing repair of traumatic disruption of the thoracic aorta at a single institution during a 9-year period were reviewed in a retrospective fashion. Patient age ranged from 15 to 81 years (mean age, 33.9 years). Twenty-two patients (49%) had multiple associated injuries, and 8 (18%) had isolated aortic injuries. Nine patients (20%) experienced preoperative hypotension (systolic blood pressure of less than 90 mm Hg). Repair was performed with partial bypass in 22 patients, a heparinized shunt in 2, and no distal perfusion (clamp and sew technique) in 21. RESULTS: Nine patient (20%) died after operation. Multivariate logistic regression analysis of preoperative and intraoperative variables identified advancing age and preoperative hypotension as independent predictors of operative death. The presence of associated injuries was not an independent predictor of operative death. All 4 patients with injuries proximal to the aortic isthmus died. Ten patients were excluded from analysis of spinal cord injury either because of preoperative neurologic deficit or because of death before postoperative evaluation. Six (17%) of the remaining 35 patients had development of paraplegia: 5 of the 15 patients having the clamp and sew technique, 1 of the 2 with a shunt, and 0 of the 18 patients with bypass (p < 0.05, clamp and sew versus bypass). In the clamp and sew group, patients in whom paraplegia developed had significantly longer aortic clamp times than those without neurologic injury (40.6 +/- 4.4 minutes versus 28.7 +/- 2.9 minutes, respectively; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Advancing age, preoperative hypotension, and perhaps injury location are important determinants of death after repair of traumatic disruption of the thoracic aorta. Adjunctive perfusion with partial bypass should be used during repair to reduce the incidence of spinal cord injury.     

Spine and spinal cord war injuries during the war in Croatia

OBJECTIVE: The present report summarizes the experience of an evacuation hospital in southern Croatia in treating 96 patients with spine and spinal cord war injuries. METHODS: A retrospective review was done for 96 wounded persons (86 soldiers, 10 civilians) with spinal cord injuries from August 1991 through December 1995. The ages ranged from 15 to 59 years (mean, 28.3 years for soldiers, 38.5 years for civilians). Diagnostic procedures were plain radiography, computed tomography, and computed tomographic myelography. However, in most cases a more conservative surgical approach was used. RESULTS: The highest rates of admittance were recorded in 1992 (N = 38) and 1993 (N = 47). The lumbar spine was injured in 55% of the patients, the cervical and thoracic spines in 17.7%. All injuries were caused by projectiles from automatic rifles and sniper fire (51%) and from fragments of explosive devices (49%). Blast injury of the spinal cord was found in 10 patients. The most frequent complications caused by the fragments were wound infection, urinary tract infection, decubitus, and pneumonia. Four patients (4.2%) died in the hospital, and 43.0% of patients survived but were severely handicapped. CONCLUSION: Careful clinical examination combined with modern diagnostic imaging and use of broad-spectrum antibiotics reduced the need for surgical intervention in patients with spinal cord injuries.     

Spine clearance--a trauma center's standardized approach to assist care givers

Spine clearance is a high-volume, high-risk issue for trauma centers. Spinal cord injuries can be one of the most devastating injuries a person can incur. The initial treatment regimen can affect the occurrence of permanent injury. Pre-hospital providers take great pains to immobilize the spine. This article describes an approach adopted by a Level I trauma center to manage admitted patients where a spinal column or ligamentous injury has not been determined.     

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Intracellular recordings were obtained from antidromically identified motoneurons in an embryonic chick spinal cord slice preparation at two developmental stages (embryonic days 12 and 18, E12 and E18) which bracket a critical period in spinal cord growth. The resting membrane potential of chick motoneurons did not change significantly between E12 and E18, but there was a significant decrease in neuronal input resistance. A small inward rectification was present in cells of both ages, although a lower proportion of E12 motoneurons exhibited inward rectification compared to E18 motoneurons. Injection of depolarizing current pulses revealed that most E12 motoneurons exhibited spike adaptation, while the majority of E18 motoneurons showed high frequency tonic firing. Bath application of serotonin (5-HT) and its agonists 5-carboxamido-tryptamine (5-CT, a 5-HT1 agonist) and alpha-methyl 5-HT (a 5-HT2 agonist) produced hyperpolarizing responses accompanied by decreased input resistance in all E12 motoneurons studied. The same three agonists produced depolarizing responses and increased input resistance in all E18 motoneurons studied. The effects of serotonergic agonists on motoneuronal excitability were tested using depolarizing current pulses. In most cases, serotonergic agonists caused a decrease in firing frequency during the hyperpolarizing response in E12 neurons. At E18, bath application of 5-HT, 5-CT or alpha-methyl 5-HT produced an increase in firing frequency in all motoneurons during the depolarizing response. Our results indicate that both 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptor subtypes contribute to modulation of chick motoneuron excitability and appear to reverse the polarity of their effects on membrane potential after a critical period in development of the spinal cord.     

Effect of naloxone on the bladder activity of rabbits with acute spinal injury

BACKGROUND: Naloxone enhances bladder activity in patients with chronic spinal cord injury. However, there are few reports on naloxone for bladder morbidity in acute spinal cord injury. METHODS: We performed a prospective, controlled study of the effects of naloxone on bladder function in rabbits with and without surgical transection of the spinal cord at the 10th thoracic vertebra. Acute and chronic stages of injury were defined according to bladder function. Naloxone was given intravenously at both stages, and intrathecally at the acute stage. Bladder activity was monitored by cystometry. Blood concentrations of methionine-enkephalin were measured by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Spinal cord injuries were acute 1 or 2 days after surgery, and chronic after 1 or 2 weeks. Bladder capacity significantly decreased after 0.01 mg of intravenous naloxone in uninjured control rabbits, and after 0.03 mg of intravenous naloxone in rabbits with chronic-phase injuries. During the acute-injury phase, 0.3 mg of intravenous naloxone, or 0.02 mg of intrathecal naloxone, was necessary to evoke the micturition reflex. No significant changes in blood enkephalin levels were seen before or after spinal cord injury. CONCLUSION: In rabbits with acute spinal cord injury, intrathecal naloxone evoked the micturition reflex at a much lower dose than did intravenous naloxone. Intrathecal naloxone promises to become a new therapy for the acute stage of spinal cord injury for active recovery of bladder function, and could replace current therapy.     

Common rugby league injuries. Recommendations for treatment and preventative measures

Rugby league is the main professional team sport played in Eastern Australia. It is also very popular at a junior and amateur level. However, injuries are common because of the amount of body contact that occurs and the amount of running that is required to participate in the game. Injuries to the lower limbs account for over 50% of all injuries. The most common specific injuries are ankle lateral ligament tears, knee medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligament tears, groin musculotendinous tears, hamstring and calf muscle tears, and quadriceps muscle contusions. Head injuries are common and consist of varying degrees of concussion as well as lacerations and facial fractures. Serious head injury is rare. Some of the more common upper limb injuries are to the acromioclavicular and glenohumeral joints. Accurate diagnosis of these common injuries using appropriate history, examination and investigations is critical in organising a treatment and rehabilitation plan that will return the player to competition as soon as possible. An understanding of the mechanism of injury is also important in order to develop preventative strategies.     

The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT): norms for age, education, and ethnicity

Traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCI) are often preventable. In order to determine the characteristics and rehabilitation outcome of our spinal injured, we carried out a retrospective study of SCI patients admitted between January 1990 and December 1995 to the only spinal rehabilitation centre in Singapore. There was a total of 231 patients with ages between 14 and 82 years. The majority (73.6%) were below the age of 50. There was a male preponderance (83.1%) and a significant proportion of foreigners (20.3%). The most common causes of injuries were falls (50.7%) and road traffic accidents (37.2%). Damage to the cervical spine predominated (53.7%), followed by the thoracolumbar junction (23.4%). At the end of rehabilitation, the number of patients who were Frankel D/E improved significantly from 61 to 136. Sixty-eight patients were able to ambulate independently without aid and total independence in activities of daily living was achieved in 45 patients. The majority (87.9%) were discharged to their own homes. Of those who returned for follow-up, 86.3% were gainfully employed at the time of injury but only 21.6% had returned to some form of vocation within 1 year.     

Injuries in the adolescent porcine spine exposed to mechanical compression

STUDY DESIGN: An experimental porcine study in which functional lumbar spinal units were tested in compression to failure. Biomechanical, radiographic, magnetic resonance imaging, and histological characteristics are described. OBJECTIVES: To explain the different patterns of injury seen in adults and adolescents resulting from traumatic injury to the vertebrae and to explain the mechanism behind traumatic displacement of the ring apophysis seen in athletes. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Recent investigations of the spine in adolescent who have sustained trauma have shown injuries to the growth zone, whereas studies of adults have shown injuries to the vertebral body. A higher frequency of abnormalities in the discs, the vertebral bodies, the endplates, and the ring apophyses has been demonstrated in athletes with high loads on the spine. There is controversy over the etiology of these changes. METHODS: Twelve functional lumbar spinal units (vertebra-disc-vertebra) obtained from six young male pigs were tested in compression to failure. All units were examined with plain radiography and magnetic resonance imaging before and after compression. After the compression, histologic samples were taken from the injury site. RESULTS: Identical traumatic changes were seen in all functional lumbar spinal units, i.e., fracture in the endplate through the growth zone posteriorly and displacement of the anulus fibrosus with a bony fragment at the point of insertion of the vertebra. The nucleus pulposus was ruptured and displaced through the fracture line in all cases. The injuries were not seen on radiographs but were detected on magnetic resonance images, as confirmed on microscopic and histologic examination. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the weakest part of the lumbar spine of the juvenile pig, when compressed, is the growth zone and the junction between the point of insertion of the anulus fibrosus and the vertebra. This location of weakness may explain the high frequency of disc degeneration and "persisting apophysis" seen in the spine of athletes.     

A new method for estimating spinal cord function. Refractory period of conductive spinal cord evoked potentials

STUDY DESIGN: This study was designed to examine the possibility of a new spinal cord monitoring method using measurement of the refractory period to monitor spinal cord function. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether measuring the refractory period and the recovery rate of conductive spinal cord evoked potential is a useful method for estimating spinal cord function. BACKGROUND: Measuring the refractory period and constructing the recovery curve have been used to investigate peripheral nerve function. Spinal cord evoked potential elicited by the single stimulus usually is used to evaluate spinal cord function, and it has been said that 50% attenuation of the amplitude is the critical alarm level. METHODS: In anesthetized cats, amplitude, area, and latency were measured on a personal computer from subtracted data collected with a paired-stimulation technique. The authors constructed recovery curves of ascending and descending conductive spinal cord evoked potentials and measured the refractory period during spinal cord compression. RESULTS: When the amplitude of the ascending spinal cord evoked potential began to decrease during spinal cord compression, the amplitude of the response elicited by the second stimulus with interstimulus intervals of 0.8 msec and 1.0 msec decreased more significantly. When the amplitude of the ascending spinal cord evoked potential decreased to 50% of the precompression amplitude, the mean value of the absolute refractory periods of the ascending and descending spinal cord evoked potentials became prolonged from 0.40 +/- 0.007 msec to 0.53 +/- 0.014 msec, and the mean values of their amplitude and area recovery rates decreased from 75% +/- 1% to 35% +/- 2% (interstimulus interval, 0.8 msec) and from 81% +/- 1% to 46% +/- 2% (insterstimulus interval, 1.0 msec). CONCLUSIONS: The change of the responses elicited by the paired stimuli is more sensitive than those elicited by the single stimulus in the spinal cord evoked potentials. The absolute refractory periods and the recovery rate during 50% attenuation of the precompression amplitude is the critical alarm level in spinal cord monitoring.     

Effect of milk-borne epidermal growth factor on the hepatic microcirculation and Kupffer cell function in suckling rats

A Rehabilitation Information System was created in July 1993 in order to register war victims in need of physical rehabilitation all over Croatia. The system is currently operating and presented data covers the period from July 1991 to July 1995. Approximately 15,000 questionnaires had been completed and returned from medical institutions on in total 8589 disabled war victims in need of rehabilitation. People with severe disabilities comprised about 20% of all in need of rehabilitation. Those reported injured were 3.5 times more than those in need of physical rehabilitation. Most common types of injuries were fractures with a permanent disabling condition (3109 persons), peripheral nerve injuries (1213 persons) and amputations (956 persons). Traumatic brain injuries were registered for 594 and spinal cord injuries for 262 persons. Causes of injuries were explosive devices (such as mines, mortar shell shrapnel, etc.) in 37% of cases, bullets in 22%, accidents in 7%, other (such as fire, blast injuries, etc.) and unknown causes in 34%.     

Influence of interleukin-1 beta on bradykinin-induced responses in guinea pig peritoneal macrophages

The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of intrathecal tetracaine (a sodium channel blocker) with those of moderate hypothermia on glutamate concentrations of intrathecal dialysate, hindlimb motor functions, and histopathology in spinal cord ischemia. New Zealand White rabbits implanted with an intrathecal dialysis probe were assigned to one of the three groups (seven in each): control (temperature 38 degrees C), tetracaine (tetracaine 0.5%, 0.6 mL, given intrathecally 30 min before ischemia, 38 degrees C), or moderate hypothermia (32 degrees C). Spinal cord ischemia (20 min) was produced by occlusion of the abdominal aorta during isoflurane (1%) anesthesia. Glutamate concentrations significantly increased during ischemia in all groups, but the levels in the moderate hypothermia group were significantly lower than those in the control and tetracaine groups. Neurologic status (24 and 48 h after reperfusion) and histopathology (48 h) in the moderate hypothermia group were significantly better than in the other two groups. There were no significant differences between the tetracaine and control groups in either glutamate concentrations, neurologic status, or histopathology. We conclude that intrathecal tetracaine does not provide any protection against ischemic spinal cord injury, whereas moderate hypothermia does. IMPLICATIONS: Sodium channel blockers, including local anesthetics, have been shown to reduce glutamate release in brain ischemia and have a neuroprotective effect. However, in the present study, intrathecal tetracaine did not attenuate either glutamate release or the neurologic or histopathologic outcome in spinal cord ischemia, whereas moderate hypothermia did.     

Distinct patterns of motor unit behavior during muscle spasms in spinal cord injured subjects

Surface electromyograms (EMG) and force were recorded during repeated involuntary spasms of paralyzed triceps surae muscles of four men with chronic cervical spinal cord injury. The firing rates of 78 medial gastrocnemius (MG) motor units also were recorded intramuscularly with tungsten microelectrodes. Spasms typically involved a relatively rapid rise, then a more gradual fall in triceps surae EMG and torque. Motor unit firing rates either increased and then decreased with the spasm intensity (54%) or were relatively constant (26%), firing mainly at 2-10 Hz. The remaining units (20%) produced trains that included one or several doublets. Mean peak spasm firing rates were 18 +/- 9 Hz (mean +/- SD) for rate modulated units and 11 +/- 10 Hz for units with little or no rate modulation. Some motor units fired at rates comparable with those recorded previously during maximum voluntary contractions performed by intact subjects. Others fired at rates below the minimum usually seen when normal units are first recruited (< 6 Hz). Doublets (interspike interval < 10 ms) often repeated every 123-333 ms, or were interspersed in trains firing at low steady rates (< 11 Hz). This study shows that rate coding for many motor units appears to be similar whether descending motor input is intact or whether it has been reduced severely by spinal cord injury. In contrast, rate modulation in other units appears to depend mainly on voluntary motor commands.     

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Evidence is accumulating that glutamate, a major neurotransmitter, exerts potent neurotoxic activity during ischemia. In our laboratory, a delayed-onset paraplegia model using rabbits has been developed and described. The severity of the ischemic event in this model, i.e., extracellular glutamate overload, is believed to influence the etiology of this borderline lesion. We hypothesized that glutamate receptor antagonists (MK-801, NBQX) would attenuate the delayed neuronal dysfunction that follows spinal cord ischemia. Infrarenal aortic segments from 18 New Zealand white rabbits were isolated for 5 minutes and infused at a rate of 2 ml/min. Group I (n = 6) received normothermic L-glutamate (20 mM). Group II (n = 6) received 3 mg of MK-801 and normothermic L-glutamate (20 mM). Group III (n = 6) received 3 mg of NBQX and normothermic L-glutamate (20 mM). Neurologic function was assessed at 6, 24, and 48 hours after surgery according to the modified Tarlov scale. After 48 hours, the rabbits were euthanized and spinal cords were harvested for histologic examination. The neurologic function of three rabbits in group I showed acure paraplegia and the other three showed delayed-onset paraplegia, whereas all group II animals had nearly intact neurologic function and all group III animals showed mild neurologic disturbance. Histologic examination of spinal cords from rabbits in group I showed evidence of moderate spinal cord injury with necrosis of central gray matter and adjacent white matter and axonal swelling, whereas spinal cords from group II showed small and localized spinal cord injuries and those from group III revealed no evidence of cord injury. These results indicate that MK-801 and NBQX exert different neuroprotective effects related to different mechanisms of glutamate neurotoxicity mediated by the NMDA receptor and non-NMDA receptor, which initiate a deleterious cascade of biochemical events that ultimately results in delayed-onset paraplegia.     

ATV-related central nervous system injuries in Louisiana

All terrain vehicles (ATVs) have been associated with death and serious injury since their introduction into the marketplace. Fifteen cases of ATV-related brain and spinal cord injury reported to the Louisiana Central Nervous System Registry during 1995 were evaluated for severity, etiology, and outcome. Eleven (73%) of these injuries were sustained by persons under 18 years of age. Despite US Consumer Product Safety Commission and ATV manufacturer recommendations for age restrictions, ATVs continue to be popular recreational devices for children.     

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Somatosensory evoked potentials at the cortical and spinal levels were dynamically studied in patients with vertebral column and spinal cord injuries before and after radical reparative surgery. The study showed that quantitative determination of the time course of changes occurring was highly effective in neurological disorders. Most significant were changes in the latent periods and amplitude of the peaks N11, N13, N20, P23 in the activation of n. medianus and N21, N28, P37, N45 in the bilateral stimulation of n. tibialis posterior. There was a correlation of neurophysiological and clinical manifestations in 50-60% of cases. Thus, the neurophysiological studies quantitatively verify the efficiency of surgical treatment for vertebral column and spinal cord injuries.