Stingers, cervical cord neurapraxia, and stenosis

Abstract

The risk of sustaining a stinger, CCN, or a more serious catastrophic injury to the cervical spine increases with increasing stenosis. The RR of a player sustaining a second stinger or CCN increases exponentially when compared with the risk of a player sustaining an initial stinger or CCN. Intravenous steroids have no role in the management of stingers or CCN. Players who remain symptomatic after a stinger, players with persistently abnormal diagnostic studies after a stinger, and any player who experiences a CCN should be excluded from further participation in contact sports.