Mother-of-one dislocates her neck in bed after powerful sneeze

A woman who sneezed so violently in bed that she dislocated her neck will have to spend the next three months in traction to recover.

Monique Jeffrey, of Melbourne, Australia, had to be rushed to a hospital spinal trauma unit after it was discovered she had dislocated two vertebrae while sitting up in bed to sneeze.

Still smiling: Monique Jeffrey with 10-month-old son after dislocating two vertebrae after sneeze. Photo: Rex

"I just knew something was wrong. I felt something move and I was in excruciating pain," she said.

Luckily the 28-year-old had her BlackBerry by her side and texted her husband saying: “Help, can't move pls call.”

She was taken to hospital but at first was told she simply had a stiff neck caused by a muscle spasm and was given exercises to loosen


But it became apparent several hours later that something was seriously wrong when Monique's left arm developed numbness and tingling.

She was immediately told to stop moving and was rushed to a spinal trauma unit where the full extent of her injuries were discovered.

The sneeze had caused the cervical 1 and cervical 2 to literally jump over each other and left Monique's head pressed down onto her right shoulder.


According to neurosurgeon Patrick Chan it’s very rare for a sneeze to cause this kind of damage.

Fortunately, the powerful sneeze did not harm Mrs Jeffrey’s spinal cord or cause neurological damage.

Mrs Jeffrey, who has a 10-month-old son called Tom said: “I just knew something was wrong. I felt something move and I was in excruciating pain.”

But at least she can now look back on the experience with humour, telling News Limited: “Honestly, who sneezes and does this? Every time I think of it now I laugh, I just can't believe it."

Mrs Jeffrey will now have to spend the next three months in halo traction while weights are used to gradually move the vertebrae back into place.

source:yahoo uk