No sports are entirely without the risk of injury, but some injuries are far more serious than others. While the most common sports injuries include ligament and muscle strains, dislocations and fractures, often affecting the knees and the Achilles tendons, more serious incidents can involve the head, neck and spine. These are a particular risk in contact sports like rugby, or those that involve heights, like diving and trampolining.

At Switalskis, we specialise in securing compensation for those who have sustained neck and spinal cord injuries (SCIs) while playing sports. In our experience, most spinal cord injuries that happen during sporting activities involve the cervical spine, which is the upper part of your spine, near the neck. A cervical spine injury can be devastating because it may affect everything below the neck. In the most serious cases, this may result in a loss of sensation and movement in all four limbs, known as quadriplegia.

The severity of a cord injury in the neck makes it a primary concern for athletes and medical professionals alike. It can have a serious impact on your life, and seeking compensation is often the best way to cover the associated costs, which can include everything from rehabilitation and treatment to full-time care, modifications to improve the accessibility of your home, and lost earnings if you can no longer work. Here, the expert spinal injuries solicitors at Switalskis explain the most common spinal cord injuries in sports, the circumstances in which they occur, and how to claim compensation if you have experienced any of the following symptoms or injuries.

What are the different types of spine injuries?

The spine is divided into four key areas, and injuries are often categorised based on where they occur. This is because injuries lower down the spine tend to affect fewer parts of the body. The spinal cord protects the central nervous system, which is the main pathway for signals between your brain and the rest of your body. An injury higher up the spine can affect more nerves, and have a larger impact on your life.

From the top of your neck, the parts of the spine are as follows:

• the cervical spine, which attaches to your neck and skull
• the thoracic spine, in your upper back
• the lumbar spine, in your lower back
• the sacral spine, which connects to your tailbone

While cervical spine injuries are the most severe type of spinal injury, because they sit at the top of the spinal column, injuries in any part of your spine can have serious consequences. When you experience an SCI, communication within your central nervous system may be broken, which can lead to paralysis, incontinence and other serious, long-term effects that may change how you live your daily life. Even a lumbar or sacral injury can lead to a partial or complete loss of function in the legs.

Complete and incomplete SCIs

When we talk about a spinal cord injury, we also use the terms "complete" and "incomplete" to indicate the extent of a particular injury.

• Complete loss of function means there is no sensation or voluntary movement below the level of the injury. A complete SCI usually means the cord has been totally compressed or severed and there is no function or sensation below the position of the injury.
• An incomplete injury means the person still has some feeling or movement below the injured area. You can move one limb more than another or have some sensation in certain parts of their body.

The outcome for a spinal cord injury depends on whether it's complete or incomplete and how quickly you receive medical care . An incomplete injury means some recovery may be possible, while a complete loss of function is often permanent. If you're entitled to make a sports injury claim , the damages you receive will take into account the full extent of your injury and its potential impact on the rest of your life, which means that you will receive more compensation in cases where damage is permanent.

How do spinal cord injuries happen in sports?

The cervical spine is the most common area for a spinal cord injury in sports because of how athletes move, and while the greatest risk is posed in impact sports, it can happen in any circumstances. Most spinal cord injuries in a sporting environment happen because of high-velocity impacts. The neck may be put under pressure by anything from a tackle in rugby to a dive into a swimming pool, and if the head stops suddenly but the body keeps moving, the spinal cord can be crushed, stretched, or torn.

However, while the leading causes of SCIs and other injuries are more physical sports, they can even happen in non-contact sports where a fall from a height or a collision with another person are still risk factors.

Popular sports that see a high number of spinal cord injuries include:

• Diving
• Cycling
• Horseback riding
• Rugby
• American football
• Skiing and snowboarding

Each of these sports has different risk factors, but they all involve high speeds or heavy contact. For example, cycling injuries can be caused by falls at high speeds or collisions with moving vehicles. Even with the right helmet and other protective gear, a sudden impact can cause neck fractures or damage the nerve roots in the spine, and the high speed of cycling means that the force applied to the spinal cord may be much higher than in other sports.

Horseback riding is another activity with a significant risk of spine injuries. The height of the horse and the speed of travel mean that a fall can be very forceful. When a rider falls, they can land in a way that compresses the spinal column and leads to a spinal fracture or even permanent damage to the spinal cord. Because the rider is high off the ground, the impact of a fall is often concentrated on the neck and upper back.

Diving is a major cause of spinal cord injuries globally, and particularly when divers land in pools that are too shallow. This can lead to axial loading, where the head hits the bottom of a pool or a lake bed while the body is still moving downward and the weight of the body crushes the cervical spine.

In contact sports like American football and rugby, the risk of an injury is always present. If the neck region or spine is compressed or twisted, this can lead to injuries with varying degrees of severity.

Who is responsible for cervical spine injuries in sports?

The operators of sports facilities, coaches, and others have a legal responsibility to minimise the risk of accidents. Depending on the sport in question, this may include providing suitable training on how to tackle or dive correctly to avoid injury, maintaining sporting equipment to an appropriate standard, and providing the required personal protective equipment. Anything from an inadequate warm-up to inadequate protective measures or a lack of safety gear can turn a minor fall into a life-changing cord injury.

While protective gear can't totally prevent every injury, it can lower your risk. Where necessary, organisers should provide helmets, neck guards, and padding to absorb some of the shock from a collision. They should take spine injury risks into account when determining the nature of the safety equipment you'll need. If they fail to do so, they may be considered negligent and therefore held responsible for any injuries that arise.

One of the key ways to prevent spinal cord injuries is through proper training. Coaches must teach athletes how to use proper form to reduce the risk of axial loading on the cervical spine, and if they do not, they may also be considered negligent. In some cases, a referee or other responsible person may be liable for failing to stop play or address aggressive behaviour. Any of these factors can lead to a higher risk of a serious injury.

This is important, because if you have been injured in circumstances that weren't your fault, you may be in a position to make a compensation claim. Compensation can be vital for those with a spinal cord injury, as it aims to cover all of your financial losses connected to the accident, and provide the highest quality of treatment available to maximise your recovery.

Can I claim compensation for a spinal injury caused by a sport?

If you were injured in an accident that was caused by someone else, you will often be able to claim compensation. This addresses not only your financial losses, but the pain and suffering of a spine or neck injury. For example, any of the following factors and symptoms can form part of your compensation claim, and help you to move forward or adjust to new circumstances after a serious injury.

• Weakness or paralysis in any part of the body
• Numbness or tingling in the hands, fingers, feet, or toes
• Loss of bladder or bowel control
• Difficulty with balance and walking
• Breathing difficulties
• Psychological impacts like depression and anxiety

It will also cover the costs of rehabilitation, which is a key part of recovery for anyone with spinal cord damage. Physical rehabilitation helps people to maintain muscle strength in the unaffected muscle groups and improve their mobility. For those with an incomplete injury, physical therapy can enable them to relearn how to perform daily tasks, use the injured part of their body and increase their independence.

Managing these issues is just as important as treating the initial injury, but it needs a skilled team to provide the right care over a prolonged period, and this can be expensive without compensation to cover the costs.

The injured person may also need home modifications, an adapted vehicle, and 24-hour care if they sustain a permanent disability. Compensation can enable you to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible with a long-term disability by providing the resources you need to live more independently and have a better quality of life.

How Switalskis can help with your spinal injury claim

At Switalskis, we know that any spinal cord injury is a life-changing event. If you're entitled to compensation, we're ready to help. Our team will work with you to understand the impact the injury has had on your life, calculate a fair compensation amount and secure the money you need to move forward.

If you or a loved one have experienced a spinal cord injury while playing sports or taking part in an event, call our serious injury experts on 0800 138 0458 or get in touch via our website.