Sudden paralysis of limbs after many hours of lying down looking at the phone

The results of an MRI scan at Hoa Binh Provincial General Hospital revealed a large epidural hematoma, severely compressing the cervical cord. The patient was diagnosed with cervical epidural hematoma and scheduled for emergency surgery, one week ago. After 1.5 hours, doctors removed the hematoma, stopped the bleeding, and decompressed the spinal cord.

Currently, the patient has recovered and is undergoing rehabilitation exercises.

On October 9, Dr. Truong Nhu Hien, Deputy Director of the hospital, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery, said that spinal epidural hematoma is a rare disease, often missed clinically, and the cause is malformation. extramedullary vascular system or due to trauma. This is a dangerous disease because if not properly diagnosed and treated promptly, it will cause permanent complications such as paralysis of the limbs, difficulty speaking, memory confusion, and even death if the hematoma is too large.

The disease is common in older people, with underlying diseases such as high blood pressure, severe spinal degeneration… However, the disease in young people, especially 15 years old like the case above, is very rare, according to the doctor. Hien.

This patient continuously played games on the phone for a long time. During that process, the male student performed many strong movements such as shaking and jerking his neck to relieve fatigue. This is the main reason why the cervical spine is suddenly impacted, with strong force causing damage to blood vessels that compress the cervical spinal cord.

On the other hand, for people who have the habit of bending down to look at phones and tablets to read messages or play games continuously, there is a risk of pushing the head forward and increasing pressure on the spine, causing congested blood vessels. Stagnation is vulnerable, Dr. Hien commented.

Doctors recommend that people with underlying medical conditions accompanied by pain, limited neck and shoulder movement, or numbness spreading to the arms and legs, need to be examined at specialized medical facilities to be able to screen and promptly detect abnormalities. usually of the spine.

During living, moving and working, you must always keep your spine in the most comfortable physiological position, without being constrained. When lying down, do not use high pillows and avoid keeping your cervical spine in a bent or bent position for long periods of time.

In particular, people who work in the office or have to sit for long periods of time need to take a break after every 30-45 minutes of work. People with neck and shoulder pain should not arbitrarily or let others perform sudden twisting, jerking, shaking movements or intentionally perform a certain movement to make a noise.

If pain occurs, you need to go to medical facilities with specialized neurology for examination and treatment.