CONCUSSION OF THE SPINAL CORD is due to similar causes acting upon the vertebral column instead of the head. The symptoms vary much with the site and severity of the injury. In many cases they are altogether absent or quite trivial at first, and only attract attention after some hours or days have elapsed; yet, and probably for this very reason, the injury not being treated at first, serious after-effects are much more common than in cases of concussion of the brain. Here also, however, complete recovery is the rule. The treatment must be in the first instance the same as in concussion of the brain.
Concussion of the spinal cord has attracted special attention in recent times owing to its frequent occurrence as a result of railway accidents. The slow and insidious nature of the symptoms presented by many such cases, and the difficulty of deciding whether those symptoms are real, and whether they have resulted from the alleged injury, have given rise to much litigation with respect to damages. The subject is very fully treated by Erichsen, Concussion of the Spine, &c. (Lond. 1875).