Spinal fractures

Every spinal fracture is different. Our treatment is fully tailored to you

The spine is the supportive pillar of the human body. It transfer the forces and loads of the head and torso to the pelvis and legs which is no easy task. While the thoracic and lumbar spine are designed more for stability and high forces, the cervical spine is fully built for movement. A spinal fracture can therefore have serious consequences.

At Schoen Clinic London the spine is one of our areas of expertise. After careful diagnosis, our specialists can offer you the best-possible treatment to let you quickly move around again, pain-free.

Composition and function of the spine

The spine is more or less at the centre of the body and is covered at the back by strong muscles. The front sections – the vertebrae – are embedded in the soft tissue and organs of the neck as well as in the chest and stomach cavities. Using your vertebrae, the spine keeps your body upright. It bears the weight of the head, upper and lower body and arms. It also protects our spinal cord which runs along the bony spinal canal of the spine.

Symptoms: Signs of fracture

  • Any pain in the spinal region after a fall or accident. If there is any nerve damage or even paralysis, this may indicate an unstable spinal fracture
  • Any nerve damage or even paralysis, this may indicate an unstable spinal fracture
  • Pain in the cervical spine and neck at rest and/or during movement
  • Misalignment or inclination of the head
  • Feeling that the head can no longer support itself
  • With osteoporosis, an accident isn’t even necessary for one or more vertebrae to be fractured, which can lead to considerable pain

Causes: How do fractures in the spinal region occur?

  • Thoracic and lumbar spine injuries

A fall or traffic accident can cause severe ribcage injuries. It can lead to thoracic spine fracture, but lumbar spine fracture in the lower back can also occur. If the bones are already weakened due to osteoporosis, for example, even less severe falls may cause fractures. In extreme cases, the spine can even be fractured spontaneously.


  • Cervical spine injuries
Adults often injure themselves due to falls, for example, in motorbike or mountain bike accidents. Contact sports such as ice hockey and football also carry a high-risk. You can even severely injure yourself while riding a horse or diving head-first into unchecked waters.
Infants and small children may sustain severe injuries to their cervical spine from car collisions or bumping into things head-on.


Even harmless falls may be enough to cause spinal fractures in the elderly. In addition, patients with Bekhterev’s disease have a greater risk of suffering from spinal fractures after falls.

Diagnosis: How we visualise spinal fractures

If we suspect a spinal column injury, we carry out prudent physical examinations and check your nervous system function. We test pain points and establish whether the arms and legs have full motor function and sensitivity. But physical examinations can never fully rule out a cervical spine injury.

Diagnostics for cervical spine injuries

We also carry out diagnostics on these injuries using X-rays, CT and/or MRI.

Diagnostics for thoracic and lumbar spine injuries

We first take X-ray images. If we find any signs of injury in these images, the suspected spinal column section will need to be clarified further through computed tomography (CT). Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we can detect damages to your spinal column early, even if these were not evident in the CT.

Spinal fracture treatment – Surgery isn’t always necessary

We generally treat milder injuries to the spinal column using conservative methods – in other words, without surgery. However, when an individual vertebra is displaced or destroyed, for example, this may cause nerve or spinal cord injuries in the worst cases. In these instances, surgical treatment is necessary to restore the stability, load-bearing capacity and shape of the spine as quickly as possible.

Cervical spine injury: Surgical treatment

Unstable fractures need to be operated on to prevent vertebrae displacing one another and potentially damaging the spinal cord. The damaged segments are fixed in place with screws or plates to eliminate further injuries to your spinal cord. For unstable injuries to the lower cervical spine, we remove the damaged discs and broken parts of the spine. We replace these with either pieces of bone from endogenous or foreign sources, or a titanium or plastic vertebral body. A titanium plate in the spinal column also improves stability. Fractures of the upper cervical spine are fixed using screws. After surgical stabilisation, you will need to wear a soft cervical collar (support made of especially sturdy foam) as a temporary support. In case of poor bone health, this will need to be prescribed for 6 to 12 weeks.

Thoracic or lumbar spine fracture: Surgical treatment

Around 80% of the load on our spine is carried by our frontal vertebrae. If an injury causes one or more vertebrae to be destroyed, these will need to be rebuilt through surgery. Thanks to modern spinal surgery methods, we can now correct and stabilise even the most severe injuries so that you can quickly become mobile and your spine can bear weight again.

Endoscopic methods relieve the spinal column
We carry out spinal column surgery using thoracoscopic surgical methods, meaning that only very small skin incisions are required. Our specialists use a special navigation system to operate with precision. We remove the broken spinal column pieces and torn discs then replace them with a titanium cage filled with endogenous bone substance, or with pieces of bone. A titanium plate is screwed onto the spinal column to further improve stability. Thanks to the small incisions, you’ll feel very little pain after the procedure. You’ll recover from surgery quicker and be mobile earlier. After a few months, the scars will barely be visible.

Spinal fracture surgery: Recovery time

The recovery time after spinal fracture surgery depends on the injury. A stable spinal fracture may heal in 6 to 12 weeks and depending on the amount of pain, patients can sometimes stand up again immediately after. For unstable fractures, the recovery time is dependent on many different factors which vary from patient to patient. We guide you through the full treatment process and help you achieve a speedy recovery.

Thoracic or lumbar spine fracture: Treatment without surgery

If we can rule out any future misalignment or nerve damages, we do not use surgery to treat injuries in the thoracic or lumbar spine region.

Cervical spine fracture: Treatment without surgery

If the injury is stable, it is immobilised using a soft cervical collar (support made of especially sturdy foam) for six weeks. In addition, we prescribe accompanying physiotherapy.

Spinal fractures: Our specialists

After careful diagnosis, our specialists can offer you the best possible treatment to move around again, pain-free.

Dr Philip Batty

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant - Sports & Exercise Medicine

Consultant Sport and Exercise Physician
MB ChB, MRCGP, FFSEM
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Mr Peter Hamlyn

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Head of Department - Back & Spine

Consultant Neurosurgeon
MB BS BSc MD FRCS FISM
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Mr Colin Natali

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Head of Department - Back & Spine

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
MBBS FRCS FRCS (Orth)
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Mr Stewart Tucker

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Head of Department - Back & Spine

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
MBBS FRCS(Eng) FRCS(Orth)
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Mr Hanny Anwar

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
BMedSci MBBS MRCS FRCS(Tr&Orth)
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Mr David Cumming

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
MBChB FRCS(Tr&Orth)
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Mr Irfan Malik

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Neurosurgeon
MBBS, FRCS, FCPS, FRCS(SN), MSc
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Mrs Anne Mitchener

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Neurosurgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Neurosurgeon
BSc PhD MB BCHIR FRCS FRCS(SN)
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Mr Alex Montgomery

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
MBChB MRCS DIPL(Orth Eng) FRCS
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Mr Vittorio Russo

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Neurosurgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Neurosurgeon
MD

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Mr Rohit Shetty

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
MS(Orth) DNB(Orth) FRCS(Tr&Orth) Dip(Tr&Orth)
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Mr Alagappan Sivaraman

Schoen Clinic Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital London

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Back & Spine

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
FRCS (Eng) FRCS (Ed) FRCS (Orth)
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Spinal fractures: Our specialised hospital

At Schoen Clinic London the spine is one of our areas of expertise.

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Authors, 09.06.2020