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I'm An Author And I Am Working On A Book
Question: I'm an author and I am working on a book in which one of the characters is seeking medical treatment for a minor back/neck injury. I know the type of treatment I would like to use, however not the injury that would correlate. I am looking for someone who can help answer some medical questions for me. I'm of course happy to pay for the conciliation as if I were seeking medical advice myself.
Basically what I need to know is what kind of back injury can happen thanks to a bad fall, that would require spinal adjustments/perhaps steroid shots for a few months.
I need to know what the injury is called, how it would be diagnosed, if it takes a test (like an MRI or CT) then what I would need to see on said test.
Basically, I need to be able to describe all of this accurately.
Thanks so much
I need to know what the injury is called, how it would be diagnosed, if it takes a test (like an MRI or CT) then what I would need to see on said test.
Basically, I need to be able to describe all of this accurately.
Thanks so much
Brief Answer:
spinal cord contusion and intervertebral disk injury to be considered first...
Detailed Answer:
Hello and Welcome to 'Ask A Doctor' service...
I've gone through your query in details...
I can understand your concerns...
Well, your right, as the initial description of minor neck/back injury isn't correlating with the type of injury as well as the treatment/management your seeking for the character...
Let's put it this way:
-When describing a fall, it should be put on from at least a significant height (highly debatable factor, but anything more than 2-floor height is generally considered severe enough to cause such degree of trauma...)
-Now coming to the initial presentation, not only the spine, there should be an initial impact on the brain too (means, presenting symptoms wise, there should be some amount of unconsciousness, headache, weakness to some parts of the body to say the least), in more severe conditions (sp. considering the lower back injuries, there can be urinary as well as bowel incontinence)...
-The basic investigations to be done is by CT-scan of the brain along with screening CT of the spinal column and a few other blood investigations (Hemogram, LFT, KFT, Blood gas analysis for initial evaluation)...
-The role of MRI comes much later (at least 18-24hrs to say the least)...
-Management wise, I suppose, you're referring to a condition as Spinal cord contusion and intervertebral disc injury, both of which are primarily managed by medications, spinal cord immobilizations and serial monitoring... However, in case of very severe injury, referred to as tethering of spinal cord, urgent neurosurgical management is recommended (which I think you've meant by spinal cord repositioning...)
-Post-surgical recovery time period is again highly variable factor...some individuals recover within a few weeks while some may require a few months and in some cases, it may require even longer than that with or without any guarantee of full recovery (depending on the severity of the injury, duration of initial presentation after injury, time taken for transporting after injury, additional complications, any associated medical conditions and several other factors)...
I hope, with all these sequences of info, you can now create your character accordingly (however, in any case, a minor injury would be an understatement, so please do consider that)...
Let me know if I can assist you further...
Take Care
Kind Regards
spinal cord contusion and intervertebral disk injury to be considered first...
Detailed Answer:
Hello and Welcome to 'Ask A Doctor' service...
I've gone through your query in details...
I can understand your concerns...
Well, your right, as the initial description of minor neck/back injury isn't correlating with the type of injury as well as the treatment/management your seeking for the character...
Let's put it this way:
-When describing a fall, it should be put on from at least a significant height (highly debatable factor, but anything more than 2-floor height is generally considered severe enough to cause such degree of trauma...)
-Now coming to the initial presentation, not only the spine, there should be an initial impact on the brain too (means, presenting symptoms wise, there should be some amount of unconsciousness, headache, weakness to some parts of the body to say the least), in more severe conditions (sp. considering the lower back injuries, there can be urinary as well as bowel incontinence)...
-The basic investigations to be done is by CT-scan of the brain along with screening CT of the spinal column and a few other blood investigations (Hemogram, LFT, KFT, Blood gas analysis for initial evaluation)...
-The role of MRI comes much later (at least 18-24hrs to say the least)...
-Management wise, I suppose, you're referring to a condition as Spinal cord contusion and intervertebral disc injury, both of which are primarily managed by medications, spinal cord immobilizations and serial monitoring... However, in case of very severe injury, referred to as tethering of spinal cord, urgent neurosurgical management is recommended (which I think you've meant by spinal cord repositioning...)
-Post-surgical recovery time period is again highly variable factor...some individuals recover within a few weeks while some may require a few months and in some cases, it may require even longer than that with or without any guarantee of full recovery (depending on the severity of the injury, duration of initial presentation after injury, time taken for transporting after injury, additional complications, any associated medical conditions and several other factors)...
I hope, with all these sequences of info, you can now create your character accordingly (however, in any case, a minor injury would be an understatement, so please do consider that)...
Let me know if I can assist you further...
Take Care
Kind Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
Hi,
Thanks so much for getting back to me. I think I explained myself badly. What I'm looking for is something significantly less severe than this. The situation in which I'm writing as a fall in an office space, someone tripping over a trashcan and hurting themselves.
I know that, in order to further the plot, the character needs to see their doctor for a few months to receive spinal adjustments, but what I don't know is what kind of commonplace back or neck injury could call for this kind of treatment. What I was planning to use previously was a simple thoracic sprain, however I was unable to understand how such a thing is found on a CT/MRI.
Do you have a suggestion of a typically seen injury such as that (and explain how it would be diagnosed)?
Thank you again for your time,
XXXXXXX XXXXXXX
Thanks so much for getting back to me. I think I explained myself badly. What I'm looking for is something significantly less severe than this. The situation in which I'm writing as a fall in an office space, someone tripping over a trashcan and hurting themselves.
I know that, in order to further the plot, the character needs to see their doctor for a few months to receive spinal adjustments, but what I don't know is what kind of commonplace back or neck injury could call for this kind of treatment. What I was planning to use previously was a simple thoracic sprain, however I was unable to understand how such a thing is found on a CT/MRI.
Do you have a suggestion of a typically seen injury such as that (and explain how it would be diagnosed)?
Thank you again for your time,
XXXXXXX XXXXXXX
Brief Answer:
Well, mild concussion injury of the brain (and not the Spinal cord or neck) is suitable in that case...
Detailed Answer:
Welcome back,
Thanks for getting back with these details,
Well then, if you're considering any sort of injury due to tripping over a trash can or falling backwards in an office set-up, it simply isn't applicable for such kind of (rather any of those kind of) neck/back injury (your second query is answered in this context itself, as this kind of commonplace injury doesn't require spinal surgical adjustments)...
Thorax is at a much much lower level though (and mostly in front of our chest region), it'd be advisable not to include every other organ at a go, as it can only complicate the plot and the presenting scenario...medically speaking, if your scripting a back/neck injury, this other types of injuries are not correlating to it...
Once again, let me reiterate, the thoracic sprain is an entirely different condition contrary to what you've asked already, so better not to go by the names, but just stick to the basic mode and affected region of injury...
We see these injuries and many more others day in and day out, they are primarily diagnosed based on the presenting complaints, associated symptoms, relevant investigations (CT scan as a primary mode of assessment, followed by MRI and other imaging studies and blood investigations)...
So, I'd again suggest not to over complicate the things and simply present them as they're (eg. if the person's tripping over a trash can in the office, at the XXXXXXX s/he can suffer a concussion injury to the brain resulting in some form of dizziness, blackouts, heaviness of the head, headache etc. but definitely not something which can result in spinal cord injury resulting in reposition, as they won't be relevant to this context)...
Hope this is clear now...
Let me know if I can assist you further...
Take Care
Kind Regards
Well, mild concussion injury of the brain (and not the Spinal cord or neck) is suitable in that case...
Detailed Answer:
Welcome back,
Thanks for getting back with these details,
Well then, if you're considering any sort of injury due to tripping over a trash can or falling backwards in an office set-up, it simply isn't applicable for such kind of (rather any of those kind of) neck/back injury (your second query is answered in this context itself, as this kind of commonplace injury doesn't require spinal surgical adjustments)...
Thorax is at a much much lower level though (and mostly in front of our chest region), it'd be advisable not to include every other organ at a go, as it can only complicate the plot and the presenting scenario...medically speaking, if your scripting a back/neck injury, this other types of injuries are not correlating to it...
Once again, let me reiterate, the thoracic sprain is an entirely different condition contrary to what you've asked already, so better not to go by the names, but just stick to the basic mode and affected region of injury...
We see these injuries and many more others day in and day out, they are primarily diagnosed based on the presenting complaints, associated symptoms, relevant investigations (CT scan as a primary mode of assessment, followed by MRI and other imaging studies and blood investigations)...
So, I'd again suggest not to over complicate the things and simply present them as they're (eg. if the person's tripping over a trash can in the office, at the XXXXXXX s/he can suffer a concussion injury to the brain resulting in some form of dizziness, blackouts, heaviness of the head, headache etc. but definitely not something which can result in spinal cord injury resulting in reposition, as they won't be relevant to this context)...
Hope this is clear now...
Let me know if I can assist you further...
Take Care
Kind Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
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