Anatomy Help - Locating Level of Spinal Cord Injury

[hugedaven]

Person with spinal cord injury after a 30 ft fall exhibits:

 

-Neck pain

-Inability to move any extremities

-can raise shoulders

-No perception of sensory stimuli below the clavicle

-Some lateral sensation on arms, but no sensation on forearms and hands

-No triceps or wrist extensor reflexes. Minimal biceps brachii stretch reflexes

-Slightly elevated respiratory rate

-Pupils equal and reactive to light

-Spasms and exaggerated stretch reflexes of the lower extremities

 

From looking at a dermatome map, I think that there was a severing of the spinal cord at the C5 level. Can anybody point out any flaws in this logic? He's able to breath on his own so I'm assuming that the diaphragm is mostly fine and that the injury is somewhere along the lower cervical level, but I am not sure where exactly.

Edited November 4, 2016 by hugedaven

[Raider5678]

Person with spinal cord injury after a 30 ft fall exhibits:

 

-Neck pain

-Inability to move any extremities

-can raise shoulders

-No perception of sensory stimuli below the clavicle

-Some lateral sensation on arms, but no sensation on forearms and hands

-No triceps or wrist extensor reflexes. Minimal biceps brachii stretch reflexes

-Slightly elevated respiratory rate

-Pupils equal and reactive to light

-Spasms and exaggerated stretch reflexes of the lower extremities

 

From looking at a dermatome map, I think that there was a severing of the spinal cord at the C5 level. Can anybody point out any flaws in this logic? He's able to breath on his own so I'm assuming that the diaphragm is mostly fine and that the injury is somewhere along the lower cervical level, but I am not sure where exactly.

Umm, not sure how wise it is to be getting medical help on an online science forum lol.(I'm kidding, I know its homework and I couldn't resist)