A 24-year-old female visits her GP after having been in an automobile accident three days prior. She reports that while driving in slippery conditions she rear-ended the car in front of her and she was then rear-ended by the car behind her. She was traveling at about 30 mph and her airbags did employ. She reports first responders found no injuries but advised her to follow up with her GP if she developed any unusual symptoms. The woman reports that she seemed fine after the accident but did wake the morning after with a bit of a stiff neck and a headache; she didn't feel this was unusual given the accident and went on about her day. At the end of the next day she had to carry heavy bags up two flights of stairs to her apartment and when almost to her door she felt a zing all the way down her right arm. She immediately put the bags down. When she lifted the bags again her right arm felt numb. She woke this morning with a very stiff neck, stiffness in her upper arm, and “tingles” in her neck and down her entire arm. Musculoskeletal examination revealed limited ability to flex the neck – guarding by the posterior muscles of the neck, reduced ability to extend and flex the elbow, reduced ability to extend the wrist and digit, and general peripheral neuropathy (loss of muscle innervation and cutaneous sensation) to the arm. From your knowledge to date from discussions in the class, and use of critical reasoning, please answer the following questions. 7. Given the woman has peripheral neuropathy (loss of innervation to muscle tissue and cutaneous sensation) of the neck and arm what axial skeletal region has likely been affected? 8. What specific feature of the axial skeletal element would have caused compression of spinal nerves? 9. From the above information (case study and answering the questions) what condition do you believe the woman has as a result of her accident?
A 24-year-old female visits her GP after having been in an automobile accident three days prior. She reports that while driving in slippery conditions she rear-ended the car in front of her and she was then rear-ended by the car behind her. She was traveling at about 30 mph and her airbags did employ. She reports first responders found no injuries but advised her to follow up with her GP if she developed any unusual symptoms.
The woman reports that she seemed fine after the accident but did wake the morning after with a bit of a stiff neck and a headache; she didn't feel this was unusual given the accident and went on about her day. At the end of the next day she had to carry heavy bags up two flights of stairs to her apartment and when almost to her door she felt a zing all the way down her right arm. She immediately put the bags down. When she lifted the bags again her right arm felt numb. She woke this morning with a very stiff neck, stiffness in her upper arm, and “tingles” in her neck and down her entire arm.
Musculoskeletal examination revealed limited ability to flex the neck – guarding by the posterior muscles of the neck, reduced ability to extend and flex the elbow, reduced ability to extend the wrist and digit, and general peripheral neuropathy (loss of muscle innervation and cutaneous sensation) to the arm. From your knowledge to date from discussions in the class, and use of critical reasoning, please answer the following questions.
7. Given the woman has peripheral neuropathy (loss of innervation to muscle tissue
and cutaneous sensation) of the neck and arm what axial skeletal region has likely
been affected?
8. What specific feature of the axial skeletal element would have caused
compression of spinal nerves?
9. From the above information (case study and answering the questions) what
condition do you believe the woman has as a result of her accident?
10. What diagnostics, if any, would you employ to further investigate the injury –
and why or why not?
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