Abstract:

Objective To explore the etiological features and prevention strategies for pediatric spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods A retrospective study of etiology and demographics features was performed and all the children with SCI (less than 14 years old) were identified in our hospital from January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2019.Results A total of 221 children with SCI were reviewed, with 62 boys and 159 girls. The age ranged from one to 13 years with the median age of six years old. Children aged four to seven years accounted most (55.7%), and were mainly girls (83.7%). Sports and leisure activities (78 cases, 35.3%), non-traumatic causes (56 cases, 25.3%), other traumatic causes (48 cases, 21.7%), transport activities (24 cases, 10.9%) and falling from height (12 cases, 5.4%) were the top five leading causes of pediatric SCI. Among the cases caused by sports and leisure activities, 96.2% (75/78) were related to back bend in dancing exercise, in which most were five to seven years old (80.0%), and all of them were thoracic cord injury without radiologic abnormality, in which 70.7% (53/75) suffered from complete SCI.Conclusion Pediatric SCI after back bend in dancing exercise is increasing rapidly in recent years. More attention should be paid on education about professional evaluation and the risk of back bend before dancing exercise, and more protective measures should be implemented.

Key words: children, spinal cord injury, etiology, back bend, prevention