Sneeze-Related Injury of the Day

28-year-old Monique Jeffrey of Melbourne, Australia, dislocated two vertebrae in her neck with a single, violent sneeze.

The fateful sneeze came while Jeffrey was in bed reading emails on her phone and watching her 10-month-old son. Although the sneeze left her unable to move, Jeffrey was able to use the phone, still in her hand, to text her husband for help.

At first, emergency personnel diagnosed her with a "wry neck" and prescribed exercises, but after her left arm went numb, a specialist discovered the real injury: her cervical 1 and cervical 2 vertebrae had literally jumped over one another, leaving her head locked in position.

Doctors have fitted Jeffrey with a halo traction to shift the vertebrae back into place, and they say there was no neurological damage or injury to her spinal cord.

"Honestly, who sneezes and does this? Every time I think of it now I laugh, I just can't believe it," she said.

[gizmodo.]