The purpose of this review article is to summarize the views presented in the Hippocratic Corpus of Medicine regarding injuries of the spine, their effect on the spinal cord and the optimal treatment modulus. It is shown that the treatment dilemmas of ancient times in these injuries remain modern since Hippocrates suggested that conservative treatment and letting nature take its course is preferable over a devastating surgical treatment if the spinal cord structural integrity is not compromised. There is also a detailed account of the conservative treatment suggested in the Hippocratic Corpus concerning devices and method of closed spinal relocations.

The purpose of this study was to summarise the life and work of the Cypriot physician Apollonius of Citium (first century BC). His overall work on medicine is presented, and special emphasis is given to his work on the treatment of joint dislocations. The most famous work of Apollonius is Treatise On Joints, which was preserved on the whole in a manuscript of the tenth century AD. In that manuscript, Apollonius is obviously influenced by the Hippocratic Corpus of Medicine. His description, diagnostic methods and reduction techniques are all based on those described by Hippocrates in his work "On Joints". Apollonius' contribution to this subject concerns accurate depiction in images of the reduction techniques he proposes. His simplifications describe the techniques of Hippocrates in a way they can be understood and used by athletes and nonphysicians in the Greek gymnasia. Perhaps his treatise is one of the earliest works of popularised medicine and surgery in the history of human civilisation.

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Crowned dens syndrome (CDS) is a rare clinical entity characterized by acute neck pain due to calcification around the odontoid process of the axis in "crown-like" configuration. The disease can cause neurological symptoms, due to spinal cord compression but also it may lead to chronic neck pain or be asymptomatic. We present a case of a 73-year-old patient who, after a fall of a height of approximately 2 m, sustained a cervical spine injury and his clinical examination revealed an incomplete quadriplegia. Surprisingly, the only finding after the diagnostic imaging, including radiographs, CT scan and MRI, was periodontoid calcification, indicative of CDS. After a few days of hospital admission, a full neurological recovery was spontaneously achieved and the patient, after a 6-week use of cervical orthosis, was free of pain. We perform a brief review of the literature to shed light onto this rare clinical entity.