05-28-2008, 10:21 PM
Hi guys.Sadly, I ask that you take even just a few seconds to say a short prayer or push some positive thoughts towards my buddy Scott and his family. He was riding his mountain bike when his front tire fell into a ditch, throwing him over the handle bars onto his head, which resulted in him having a burst fracture in his spine. He is paralyzed from the chest down and is currently undergoing spinal surgery up in Georgia. If that wasn't bad enough, his wife is currently in her 8th month of a high risk pregnancy, they already have a 5 year old boy, and he is their only source of income. He's an extremely kind man and I'm always happy to see him. I just hope my buddy can pull through this one and get back on his feet again. <img src=\"style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\"ad:\" border=\"0\" alt=\"sad.gif\" /> <!--quoteo<div class=\'quotetop\'>QUOTE</div><div class=\'quotemain\'><!--quotec<b>What is a Burst Fracture?</b>A burst fracture is a descriptive term for an injury to the spine in which the vertebral body is severely compressed. They typically occur from severe trauma, such as a motor vehicle accident or a fall from a height. With a great deal of force vertically onto the spine, a vertebra may be crushed.If it is only crushed in the front part of the spine, it becomes wedge shaped and is called a compression fracture. However, if the vertebral body is crushed in all directions it is called a burst fracture. The term burst implies that the margins of the vertebral body spread out in all directions. This is a much more severe injury than a compression fracture for two reasons. With the bony margins spreading out in all directions the spinal cord is liable to be injured. The bony fragment that is spread out toward the spinal cord can bruise the spinal cord causing paralysis or partial neurologic injury. <a href=\"http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article1434.html\" target=\"_blank\">Burst Fractures: Defined and Diagnosed</a><!--QuoteEnd</div><!--QuoteEEndThank you all,~Mike