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Abstract. In 1965In -1978 patients with cervical spine injuries, caused by diving into water, were treated. In 182 cases, spinal fracture was accompanied by spinal cord injury. This paper presents mechanism of trauma, in connection with observed degree of neurological disturbances as well as further life of this group of patients in relation to the degree of spinal cord damage.

There are certain differences between the causes of spinal injuries in Poland and in the developed countries of the West. The most common causes of injuries to the cervical spine in Poland are: falls from a horse-cart, diving into shallow water and automobile accidents. This paper presents an analysis of the causes of cervical spine injuries in a series of 1937 patients treated at the Spinal Cord Injury Department of the Metropolitan Rehabilitation Center in Konstancin, Poland, in the years between 1965 and 1991, admitted to hospital within the first hours or days after spinal injury. The relations between the mechanism of injury and the cause of injury, as well as the neurological sequelae of the injuries, are analysed.

An analysis of the mortality rate of 3486 spinal injured patients treated in the early posttraumatic period in the years in Konstancin, Poland is presented. The data show that the life of the spinal cord injured is threatened by several factors. the most important of which appear to be: the level and degree of the spinal cord lesion: certain causes of injury predisposing to severe nervous system injury: advanced age: and to some extent. concomitant injuries and methods of treatment. The significance of age is demonstrated by a nearly tenfold increase in mortality in the oldest age group of patients with complete spinal cord lesions as compared to the youngest age group of up to 20 years with the same degree of spinal cord damage.