A WOMAN was almost paralysed after stretching her neck and now has to use a walking stick.
Amanda Borish, 28, damaged her spinal cord earlier this year and had to have emergency surgery.
The Californian used to suffer from intense neck pain and in a bid to relieve the symptoms, decided to start practising various stretches.
Until one day earlier this year, a move “stretched her spinal cord too far”.
Amanda lay on her back on the sofa and hung her head and arms off the edge to stretch out.
She said: "After I did my stretch, I sat up as usual – except this time, my arms and legs were completely numb. My hands felt like TV static.
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"I went to sleep in hopes I would wake up not numb anymore.
"I went to the emergency room [the next day] and they did a few cat scans on me.
"They found I had 'cervical stenosis' and said it was really serious, so I had to stay the night.”
Cervical stenosis occurs when the neck’s protective spinal canal narrows, squashing the spinal cord.
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It usually occurs due to wear and tear in people with arthritis, or from a herniated disk. But it can happen due to trauma, such as a car accident.
Amanda said: "I risked being quadriplegic if I went back home and I wasn't expecting to have to stay in hospital.
"I cried a lot and went home against their wishes because I wasn't ready."
Amanda visited the hospital the next day and was later referred to Riverside Community Hospital to see a neurosurgeon.
On 10 May 2022, she was rushed into surgery to repair her spinal cord.
She said: "My surgeon said that my spinal cord damage was so bad and that if I had stretched wrong one more time or even fell down, I would have probably been quadriplegic.
"Learning that information scared me a lot because I didn't realise how serious it was.
“Now, I am at home because I need to recover and I'm doing physical therapy because my legs don't work like they used to anymore.
"I have to use a walker for the time being and also have titanium and six screws in my neck."
Amanda was released home and given instructions to use a walking aid and wear a neck brace until 21 June, when she felt “confined”.
She said: "I felt so confined and it sucked. It gets so freaking hot wearing it.
"The doctor told me that I am allowed to sit on my bed and lounge around without my neck brace, but if I'm walking or sleeping, I need to wear it.
"The walker aid isn't supposed to be forever so I'm dealing with it as best as I can.
"It does indeed make me feel older, so I decorated it with a bunch of stickers to make it feel more 'me’.
"I'm trying to get my legs strong now, so I try not to use the walker if I don't think I absolutely need it – but sometimes, that is a mistake on my part.
"I end up having to hold onto the person I am with, so I don't fall.
"The people around me have reacted a lot differently to my spinal cord injury than I have.
"Everyone around me takes it a lot more seriously than I do – I'm just really positive.
"I never really realised how serious it was until I realised I [could] still be paralysed."
As a warning to others, Amanda said she is “never going to do that particular stretch again”.
"But I might stretch my neck in safer ways,” she added.
"I'm going to ask my doctor what are safe stretches that I'm allowed to do."
Neck stretches, if done appropriately, can bring relief.
But some motions put the head and neck in an extreme position far “beyond the parameters of normal cervical movement”, according to Family Chiropractic.
This increases “the potential for both compression and hyperextension of the cervical spine, resulting in instability and injury”.
Amanda shared the shocking details of her accident on TikTok (@swanprincess_) where she garnered over 560.5k views and 46,000 likes.
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One user said: “Me watching this who cracks my neck every time I get the urge…”
Another said: "Omg the other day I stretched my neck by putting my head back and heard a loud click, I couldn't move my head for days, I'm so glad it went away," said another viewer.
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