11th Vertebra Ski Injury - How Serious? Medical Answers Please?

Question

An acquaintenace broke his back in a fall off the ski jump. He is going to be having surgery.

Answer 1

It depends on whether his spinal cord was damaged (you can break a piece of your spine and still be ok).

If he did hurt his spinal cord, here is a link that can tell you about the types of deficits your friend may have.

The second link is a map of where the vertebrae are; if an injury is at a certain level, anything below that level on the body may be affected.