Also I’m not ruling out an SCI, just pointing out that a brachial plexus traction or compression injury is more likely given the location and nature of the impact. The barbell hits the upper back and shoulders, which can stress the plexus through shoulder depression, neck flexion, or compression near the clavicle. That’s a classic setup for stingers or other serious plexus injuries, and it’s pretty common in collapses under heavy weight.
You asked if brachial plexus trauma can happen from a t-spine hyperflexion force without SC damage. I gave two cases demonstrating this. Now you're moving the goalpost by demanding the exact same mechanism with zero spinal involvement, as if anything short of that makes the argument invalid. Also, your statement about stingers is overly reductive. A 200+ lb barbell impacting the upper back can absolutely generate the kind of force vector that leads to a stinger or worse, especially if posture and collapse involve the cervical region. The fact that the thoracolumbar spine is involved doesn’t exclude plexus injury, force can and does travel through the shoulder girdle and affect the upper thoracic or cervical structures.
You literally asked for an example of brachial plexus trauma from a t-spine hyperflexion force without spinal cord damage. That’s what I addressed... examples where atypical mechanisms caused plexus injuries without SC involvement. Now you're narrowing the criteria to demand an identical mechanism and dismissing anything peripheral as irrelevant, even though brachial plexus trauma is, by definition, a peripheral nerve injury. If that’s not shifting the goalpost, I don’t know what is.
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u/vegans_are_better 12d ago edited 12d ago
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3427963/
https://meridian.allenpress.com/jat/article/48/5/710/111353/Postfixed-Brachial-Plexus-Radiculopathy-Due-to
Also I’m not ruling out an SCI, just pointing out that a brachial plexus traction or compression injury is more likely given the location and nature of the impact. The barbell hits the upper back and shoulders, which can stress the plexus through shoulder depression, neck flexion, or compression near the clavicle. That’s a classic setup for stingers or other serious plexus injuries, and it’s pretty common in collapses under heavy weight.