Spinal cord injury in a child: a long term follow-up study. Case report.

The main features of spinal cord injuries in children are known to be that (1) plain radiographs do not show the bony injury; (2) many of the injuries are complete spinal cord injuries; (3) many involve the upper thoracic spine; and (4) the duration of spinal shock is short. Complications such as pressure sores occur just as easily in children as in adults and the injuries are intractable. Typical complications in children with spinal cord injuries are spinal deformity and hip dislocation. We discuss a patient with a C7 spinal cord injury caused by a fall when the patient was 3 years old, and the physical complications occurring during the 15 years following the injury.