Abstract
Introduction
Central cord syndrome (CCS) is an injury to the center of the spinal cord. It is well known as a hyperextension injury, but it has never been described as a surfing injury. Our report describes this injury in detail.
Case presentation
A 35-year-old male novice surfer presented to the emergency department with acute tetraplegia following falling off his surfboard and hitting sea floor at a shallow beach break. He was rescued by a fellow surfer while floating in the sea and unable to raise his head above sea level. Upon arrival at the hospital, tetraplegia and sensory deficits were noted. Radiological investigations showed advanced spinal stenosis at C4–6 levels. T2 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated myelopathy at C5–C6 level. He was diagnosed as having central cord syndrome, treated conservatively, and regained near full neurologic recovery after a month of rehabilitation.
Discussion
Unique sport activities lead to unique injuries. It is important to accurately describe these injuries in order to create protective measures against them. Neurologic injuries in surfers are uncommon. With low-energy trauma, surfer’s myelopathy is still the most common diagnosis, but central cord syndrome should be in the differential diagnosis.
Similar content being viewed by others
Log in or create a free account to read this content
Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com
or
References
Schneider RC, Thompson JM, Bebin J. The syndrome of acute central cervical spinal cord injury. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1958;21:216–27.
Fehlings MG, Tetreault L, Nater A, Choma T, Harrop J, Mroz T, et al. The aging of the global population: the changing epidemiology of disease and spinal disorders. Neurosurgery. 2015;77:S1–5.
Quencer RM, Bunge RP, Egnor M, Green BA, Puckett W, Naidich TP, et al. Acute traumatic central cord syndrome: MRI-pathological correlations. Neuroradiology. 1992;34:85–94.
Nathanson A, Haynes P, Galanis D. Surfing injuries. Am J Emerg Med. 2002;20:155–60.
Freedman BA, Malone DG, Rasmussen PA, Cage JM, Benzel EC. Surfer’s myelopathy: a rare form of spinal cord infarction in novice surfers: a systematic review. Neurosurgery. 2016;78:602–11.
Thompson TP, Pearce J, Chang G, Madamba J. Surfer’s myelopathy. Spine. 2004;29:E353–6.
Bosch A, Stauffer ES, Nickel VL. Incomplete traumatic quadriplegia: a ten-year review. JAMA. 1971;216:473.
Chung HY, Sun SF, Wang JL, Lai PH, Hwang CW. Non-traumatic anterior spinal cord infarction in a novice surfer: a case report. J Neurol Sci. 2011;302:118–20.
Albuja AC, Qaiser S, Lightner DD, Raslau FD, Zafar MS, Bernard PA, et al. Surfer’s myelopathy without surfing: a report of two pediatric patients. Spinal Cord Ser Cases. 2017;3:17008.
Wadia S, Padmanabhan P, Moeller K, Rominger A. Pediatric surfer’s myelopathy. J Emerg Med. 2015;49:e143–5.
Maharaj MM, Phan K, Hariswamy S, Rao PJ. Surfer’s myelopathy: a rare presentation in a non-surfing setting and review of the literature. J Spine Surg. 2016;2:222–6.
Kessler JT. Congenital narrowing of the cervical spinal canal. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1975;38:1218–24.
Verbiest H. A radicular syndrome from developmental narrowing of the lumbar vertebral canal. J Bone Jt Surg Br. 1954;36-B:230–7.
Pavlov H, Torg JS, Robie B, Jahre C. Cervical spinal stenosis: determination with vertebral body ratio method. Radiology. 1987;164:771–5.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Steinfeld, Y., Keren, Y. & Haddad, E. Spinal cord injury with central cord syndrome from surfing. Spinal Cord Ser Cases 4, 11 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41394-018-0041-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41394-018-0041-3
This article is cited by
-
Is Surfer’s myelopathy an acute hyperextension-induced myelopathy? A systematic synthesis of case studies and proposed diagnostic criteria
Journal of Neurology (2022)
-
Non-traumatic myelopathy associated with prolonged hyperextension during swimming: an unusual variation of Surfer’s Myelopathy
Spinal Cord Series and Cases (2018)
