"Fingerprints" of vertebral trauma--a unifying concept based on mechanisms.

Vertebral fractures, like fractures in the peripheral skeleton, occur in predictable and reproducible patterns that are related to the kind of force applied to the affected bone. The same force applied to the cervical, thoracic, or lumbar column will result in injuries which appear quite similar. A review of 621 injuries to the vertebral column revealed that there are basically four mechanisms of injury: flexion, extension, shearing, and torque (rotation). These injuries may occur by themselves or in combination with one another. The severity and extent of damage produced by any mechanism is dependent upon the incident force, the position of the patient at the time of injury, and the velocity of the patient. Thus, there is a pattern of recognizable signs which span the spectrum from mild soft tissue damage to severe skeletal and ligamentous disruption. These patterns are termed the "fingerprints" of the injury, and this presentation illustrates the four basic types of vertebral injury producing those "fingerprints."