During the summer vacation, many parents sent their children to dance training institutions for intensive training. Ni Guoxin, chief physician of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, told reporters that although there are many benefits for children to practice dance, it should be noted that there are certain dangers in the lower back, leg pressing and other movements, which can even lead to paraplegia in serious cases. In the process of practice, we should be careful to prevent spinal cord injury.

Why does low back cause spinal cord injury easily?

In his daily visits, Ni Guoxin found that many spinal cord injuries belong to the type of spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation, which is a special type of spinal cord injury. External forces lead to spinal cord injury, but X-ray films or CT and other imaging examinations show no spinal fracture and dislocation. Because of this feature, spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation is easily missed and misdiagnosed, leaving a lifelong regret for children.

Ni Guoxin said that domestic research showed that the spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation accounted for 19% to 34% of children's traumatic spinal cord injury, of which children aged 4 to 7 years were mainly caused by practicing lower back movements when learning dance, mainly girls.

"This is mainly because children's spine has a strong extensibility, while the spinal cord has a poor extensibility." Ni Guoxin said that in the process of practicing lower back movements, longitudinal traction of the spine may cause ischemic spinal cord injury. Repeated low back may lead to injury or embolism of small blood vessels in the spinal cord, resulting in spinal cord ischemia and spinal cord stretch.

How to prevent spinal cord injury in children?

"Spinal cord injury is catastrophic, and there is no effective cure measure at present." Ni Guoxin stressed to reporters that children under 10 years old are not recommended to participate in dance waist training and other repeated or continuous exercises that overextend the spine.

Ni Guoxin explained that in general, when children are less than 10 years old, the uncinate process that can limit the lateral and rotation of the vertebral body is not fully developed, the sagittal and transverse diameters of the thoracic vertebral canal are narrow, and there are few anastomotic branches of the internal and external arteries of the spinal cord. A slight external force, such as lumbar extension, torsion, and flexion in dance practice, can exert a longitudinal traction force on the spine, It makes the thoracic and lumbar segments of the spine overextend beyond the stretch limit of the spinal cord, which is easy to cause spinal cord ischemic injury.

Ni Guoxin suggested that if it is necessary to carry out dance waist training, parents can take their children for physical examination first. Children with congenital spinal anomalies such as spina bifida occulta and tethered cord syndrome should not stoop. Before practicing the low back movement, it is necessary to fully warm up, conduct scientific training, and evaluate at any time, adhere to the principle of gradual progress, and avoid doing movements that exceed the safe range of spine bending.

If spinal cord injury is suspected, how to avoid secondary injury?

Ni Guoxin said that the vast majority of children injured by practicing low back movements will not be paralyzed directly, but will first experience numbness, pain, soreness, weakness and other discomfort in the waist and lower limbs, and then gradually develop to inability to move. "The spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation generally only has abnormal signals on MRI. The child will show spinal cord edema on the day of injury, and later spinal cord atrophy will occur to varying degrees."

If spinal cord injury is suspected, how to deal with it scientifically? Ni Guoxin suggested that if there are pain, numbness, weakness and other neurological symptoms, you must stop practicing immediately, lie on your back, and call the emergency number.

Ni Guoxin suggested that you should not continue to practice dancing, or send the child to the doctor with his or her parents on his or her back. Because improper post-treatment of spinal cord injury may lead to secondary injury and aggravate the condition. If you send yourself to the hospital, you must pay attention to keeping the spine in a straight line, or use tools such as door panels for transportation.

"Eight hours after spinal cord and spine injury is the golden period for treatment, so you must seek medical advice in time," Ni Guoxin said. (Picture made by intern Ren Danni)

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