Recent review article in the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation & Emergency Medicine concerning the clinical implications on turning patients with an unstable cervical spine injury into the lateral position. It reveals that there is little evidence to suggest that there is clinically relevant worsening of a pre-existing cervical spinal injury when rotating patients for supine to a lateral position. This means that the Lateral Trauma Position, used in many pre-hospital settings in unconscious patients, should be considered a possible alternative to dogmatically strapping patients onto a spine board in the supine position. This may be especially true for patients at high risk of loss of airway patency, such as those with decreased consciousness.
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