Hyperextension injuries of the spine.

Little has been written about hyperextension injuries in comparison with other mechanisms of’ injury to the spine. Probably the explanation for this is that in the cervical spine hyperextension injuries are much more difficult to diagnose radiologically, and in consequence proportionately fewer of these injuries are diagnosed by surgeons and radiologists than are flexion and vertical compression lesions. It is also possible that because ofthe inherent stability that remains after most hyperextension injuries there has been little to excite controversy between the surgical and conservative schools as to the correct method of early management, or discussion on the relative merits ofdifferent surgical approaches to the problem. Extension injuries of the thoracic and lumbar spines appear to be so rare that they fail to excite much comment. The varying pattern of hyperextension injuries has been studied over the last five years, and it is proposed to correlate the clinical and pathological findings from patients admitted to the Victorian Spinal Injuries Centre at the Austin Hospital between January 1965 and December 1969, and to discuss these in relation to a proposed sub-classification of hyperextension injuries of the spine.