Hyperflexion injury of cervical spine and central cord syndrome in a child.

A case of CCS in a 9-year-old boy who sustained a transient subluxation of C5 over C6 following a diving accident is reported. The clinical diagnosis of CCS is supported by a MRI finding of a traumatic lesion in the center of the cord at the level of subluxation. We postulate that hyperflexion injury was responsible for the subluxation, which in turn caused compression injury of the cervical spinal cord. Such compression injury, as shown by McVeigh, results in damage to the center of the cord. Central cord syndrome should be regarded as an entity caused by compression of the spinal cord, irrespective of the mode of injury, be it hyperflexion or hyperextension, from which no age group is exempt.