Stinger (medicine)

In medicine, a stinger,[1][2] also called a burner or nerve pinch injury, is a neurological injury suffered by athletes, mostly in high-contact sports such as ice hockey, rugby, American football, and wrestling. The spine injury is characterized by a shooting or stinging pain that travels down one arm, followed by numbness and weakness in the parts of the arms, including the biceps, deltoid, and spinati muscles. Many athletes in contact sports have suffered stingers, but they are often unreported to medical professionals.

Anyone who experiences significant trauma to his or her head or neck needs immediate medical evaluation for the possibility of a spinal injury. In fact, it is safest to assume that trauma victims have a spinal injury until proven otherwise because:

  • The time between injury and treatment can be critical in determining the extent of complications and the amount of recovery
  • A serious spinal injury is not always immediately obvious. If it is not recognized, more severe injury may occur
  • Numbness or paralysis may develop immediately or come on gradually as bleeding or swelling occurs in or around the spinal cord[3]
  1. ^ "Burners and Stingers - OrthoInfo - AAOS". aaos.org.
  2. ^ McKeag, Douglas B.; Kuhlman, Geoffrey S. (1999-11-01). "The "Burner": A Common Nerve Injury in Contact Sports". American Family Physician. 60 (7): 2035–40, 2042. ISSN 1532-0650. PMID 10569506.
  3. ^ "Spinal cord injury - Symptoms and causes". mayoclinic.org.