Readers Respond: What Precautions Do You Take?

According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, every day 30 people become paralyzed because of disease or an injury such as a broken neck. The NACIA says there is no cure for spinal cord injury, only prevention.

Taking precautions may not seem very important on an average day, but they can be the best way to save you from a really bad neck injury.

Are precautions a part of your daily routine? Why or why not? Which precautions do you take? What do you ignore that you know you shouldn't? How do you balance safety and fun? Share your experience so you can help and learn from others.

never go to unskilled chiropratic

i have broken my neck when a chiropratic gave uneven jerks to it... i lost an important part of my body n life!

—mahakhan

How To Avoid Broken Necks

After having gotten one in an auto accident I now carry a neck collar in my car. If I am in any other accident, I will immobilize my neck immediately. Having had a Linear C-2 fracture I was lucky, if it broke the way they normally do, I would have been paralyzed for life. If the weather is all ice. I will not drive.

—Guest Lisa

Skateboard Safety

My son is an avid skateboarder. Although it may not be cool to wear a helmet all the time, I absolutely insist on it. If he gets caught skating without his helmet, he loses his board for a week. We only had to do this once to make our point.

—Guest BBB

Prevent Broken Neck

One thing I do is pay absolute attention when I am going up and down stairs. Often, my two dogs are racing up and down the stair around me, I'm carrying laundry, etc. I pause, let the pets clear out, make sure I have a good grip on whatever I'm carrying, and carefully proceed up or down the stairs. I also use the handrail as much as possible.

—Guest Careful on Stairs

balance exercises

I never realized how much easier it becomes to lose my balance now that I'm getting older. A friend suggested I try to pull on my socks each day without leaning against anything or sitting down - and I found I couldn't do it without losing my balance at first. But now I do it every day, plus I do the balance exercises on my Wii Fit. It has certainly helped me control my balance better.

—TrishaTorrey

car headrest

I do everything listed in the article on how to prevent a broken neck. The tip I can add is to make sure that the car headrest is at the right position and height. After suffering a severe whiplash that could have been a broken neck had my headrest not been adjusted properly, I am very careful about that and won't ride in cars where the headrest has been taken out.

—Guest OMPilates