Instability resulting from a missed Chance fracture.

D improvements in seat and seat-belt designs, lap-belt injuries continue to occur in children. The diagnosis of abdominal and spinal injuries is often delayed or missed completely. Heightened awareness, a good history and physical examination, as well as the appropriate investigations are required for the prompt diagnosis of such injuries. We present the case of a young boy with a lap-belt injury in whom an intra-abdominal injury was diagnosed immediately but a potentially unstable spine injury was missed for over a year.