Head Up!!

This past weekend, an Auburn football player, Zac Etheridge, was involved in a serious injury during the Auburn-Ole Miss football game. While attempting to tackle Ole Miss running back Rodney Scott, Etheridge and teammate Antonio Coleman met head on in the above picture. It is never a good idea to attempt and tackle someone with your head down (neck flexion), because it lines up all the vertebrae in the neck and if the force is great enough, a domino effect will occur, fracturing the vertebrae and possibly leading to paralysis. After watching the video in class, one of my students pointed out that Etheridge likely wasn't trying to hit Scott with his head, but Coleman came into the play after he left his feet, and by then he couldn't change direction. After this collison, Etheridge lay motionless on the turf on top of Scott, and the Auburn medical staff did a great job stabilizing his cervical spine and placing him on the spineboard. As an athletic trainer, you always suspect a player has a spine injury when they get hit in the head. The most remarkable part of the play was Scott, who did not move until Etheridge was stabilized and moved off of him. The actions of Scott may have saved Etheridge from permanent paralysis, because any type of movement before he was stabilized could have caused a serious spinal cord injury. I am happy to report that Etheridge did not sustain any permanent damage, he has sprained ligaments in his neck and did fracture cervical vertebrae five. He will have to wear a neck brace for 3-4 months and is expected to make a full recovery. If you would like to see the video, click on the link below. It occurs around the 26 mintue mark of the video.

Zac Etheridge injury