Severe sprains of the sub-axial cervical spine in adolescents: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge: a report of three cases.

BACKGROUND: Sub-axial cervical spine(C spine) distraction flexion injuries, known as cervical sprains, have been divided into either "benign" or "severe" sprains depending on the integrity of the posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL) of the spinal column. It is a very uncommon injury and rarely reported in the literature. Most of the reports in the literature discuss this injury in the adult age group and so the adolescent age group was also considered to follow the same model of progression of mechanical instability depending on the degree and extent of structures injured, including the PLL as a cutoff factor between a "stable" and an "unstable" injury. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report three cases of adolescents with severe cervical sprains at the C2-C3 level and argue the integrity of PLL as a determinant factor in the sagittal stability of the C spine in this age group.