Get Canadian C Spine Rules

The C-Spine Rule is a reliable and sensitive tool designed to determine the need for medical imaging in acute traumatic neck pain patients. It has been validated with emergency physicians, emergency room nurses, and paramedics but there is no research regarding its use by physical therapists.

Instructions for using the Canadian C-Spine Rule Define whether any high risk factors are present such as age (≥65 years) or dangerous mechanism (includes high speed or roll over or ejection, motorised recreation vehicle or bicycle crash). If this is the case, an X-ray of the cervical spine should be performed.

Exclusion Criteria:a) Patients under the age of 16 years, b) Patients who do not satisfy the definition of "trauma to the head and neck" as defined above (for example, patients with neither neck pain nor visible injuries above the clavicles will be excluded), c) Patients with Glasgow Coma Scale score less than 15, d) ...

Assess rotation of the neck to 45 degrees in people who have low risk factors shown in the QTF Classification of Grades of WAD. If people are able to rotate their neck to 45 degrees, they do not require an X-ray of the neck.

Inclusion Criteria Patients sustaining acute blunt trauma to head/neck, who were at risk for C-spine injury, which is defined as the following: Neck pain based on mechanism of injury. No neck pain w/ some visible injury above clavicles, non-ambulatory before, and sustained dangerous mechanism.

Canadian C-spine rules are a set of guidelines that help a clinician decide if cervical spine imaging is not appropriate for a trauma patient in the emergency department. The patient must be alert and stable.