The tip of the spinal cord near the skull is called the cervical spine. Its also called the skull supporting vertebra structure. The cervical spine is made up of 7 vertebrae bones and there are eight pairs of cervical nerves in that area. There is a complex network of nerves, muscles, tendons and ligaments to support the spine. The ligaments of the cervical spine control the excessive movement of head or neck that can cause serious injury. The muscles form a balance in the neck region and also supports the stability.

Any fracture or break of one or more of the cervical bones is also known as broken neck. The athletes are at high risk of having this sort of fractures. Considering the force required to have a fracture of any kind, its estimated that motor accidents, sudden twist, falls from a height at a bad angle etc can be the major cause of the cervical fracture.

The complications of a cervical fracture cannot be predicted by any medical science. It all depends on luck and the position in which the fracture has occurred. At many instances the impact of injury was so high that it caused total damage to the central nervous system or the spinal cord. Death too has been found in many cervical fracture cases when the patient gets late in reaching to a hospital and getting the first aid.

Other complications like decompression of the joints, breaking of bones, damage to nerve and muscles can also happen. The damage of nerves can cause complete or partial paralysis of the body. The treatments of cervical fracture too depend on the nature of the injury. In minor cases neck braces and rest for 3 months are enough to bring back the normal conditions. While to manage the severe ones, surgery, traction and other kinds of treatments are applied.