Citation

Meyer SA, Schulte KR, Callaghan JJ, Albright JP, Powell JW, Crowley ET, El-Khoury GY. Am. J. Sports Med. 1994; 22(2): 158-166.

Affiliation

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8198181

Abstract

We evaluated the relationship of cervical spinal stenosis with the occurrence of "stingers" in collegiate American football players who participated at our institution from 1987 through 1991. Preparticipation cervical spine radiographs of 266 players were used to measure Torg ratio. Forty players with stingers were identified: 34 had an extension-compression mechanism; 6 had a brachial plexus stretch mechanism. Time-loss neck injuries occurred in 31 players; the remaining 195 players were asymptomatic. The mean Torg ratio was significantly smaller for the stinger group (P = 0.02). The Torg ratio was less than 0.8 at 1 or more levels in 47.5% of the stinger group, 32.3% of the time-loss neck pain group, and 25.1% of the asymptomatic group. No player with a brachial plexus stretch mechanism had a mean Torg ratio less than 0.8, but 20.6% of the players with an extension-compression mechanism had a mean Torg ratio less than 0.8. Players with a Torg ratio less than 0.8 had 3 times the risk of incurring stingers. We conclude that cervical spinal stenosis increases the risk for having stingers with complicated clinical courses.

Language: en