The Risk of Spine Injury Among Racers

Vehicle racing is a very popular type of sport in the world. The most popular are the car racing and motorcycle racing. Several countries are playing this kind of sport despite of its health risks, just like other sports. To compare car racing and motor racing, the more dangerous is the motorcycle racing for the obvious reason that drivers are in a open-wheeled open cockpit race motorcycle compared to race cars. The worst type of accident motor racers may experience is the motorcycle crash that can lead to spine injury. Fortunately, there are various ways to treat different kinds of spine injury.

According to some studies, drivers are required to be seated in a position such that the spine is out of its normal contour. You might be wondering where spinal spinal injuries typically occur. It occurs in impacts directed reawarded which is the most common, then vertically and frontward. The most dangerous and feared because of high incidence of mortality is the Basilar skull fractures. Other types of spine fractures are listed below:

  1. Cervical Spine Fractures–  Subaxial cervical spine fracture is a common type of spine fracture. There are a lot of conceptions about its causes. One of the possible reasons is that the head impacts loads the cervical spine in compression which may compare to a diving accident where the head impacts the bottom of the pool). Even car racer are prone to this type of fracture. If an accident occurs and the driver’s head impact the vehicle roof. Cervical fracture that occurs when the driver’s head does not impact the floor or vehicle roof is because of the constraint of the head which, depending on how the cervical spine is positioned, may result to first or second order buckling.
  2. Thoracic, Lumbar, and Sacral Spine– majority of this case resulted from reaward impacts. And all fractures resulting from this kind of impact can be classified as type A fractures.

Despite the numerous health risks of motorcycle racing, there are advance ways to treat spine injury.  Central Texas Spine Institute  located in Austin, Texas, is a private medical practice offering comprehensive spine care, including diagnostic services, conservative treatment modalities, and spine surgery. Dr. Randall F. Dryer is an award-winning spine surgeon and respected innovator in stem cell therapies. Since 1988, Dr. Dryer has been treating patients in Central Texas and from all over the world.