FRACTURES OF THE SACRUM. 727 



parturition. Albrecht saw fracture between the sacrum and last 

 lumbar vertebra in a bull after mounting a cow. A horse suffering 

 from fracture of the first and second sacral segments after a collision 

 was seen in the Vienna clinique. In an army horse a fall was followed 

 by fracture of the fourth and fifth sacral segments. 



Fractures of the caudal vertebrae in dogs and cats are most 

 frequently produced by the animals being run over or having the 

 tail nipped in a door ; in larger animals, by rearing with the tail 

 over the splash board, or by falling over backwards, the tail being 

 extended. To induce oxen to move, the tail is sometimes violently 

 twisted, with the result that the caudal vertebrae are fractured. In 

 the tail region the inter-articular cartilages are sometimes torn through. 

 Treatment is very similar to that of fracture. 



Symptoms and course. The lumbo-sacral plexus, provides the 

 muscles of the hind limbs with motor fibres, and fracture of the first 

 sacral vertebra or of the lumbar vertebrae is therefore followed by 

 partial or complete paralysis behind the lesion. The nerves which 

 leave the vertebral canal through the third and fourth sacral notches, 

 give motor and sensory fibres to the rectum, penis (N. dorsalis penis), 

 and perineum. Fractures of the sacrum are therefore always attended 

 with paralysis of the tail and rectum, and sometimes of the bladder, 

 in addition to paralysis of the muscles of the hind-limbs. The 

 symptoms depend on the position of the fracture and the changes 

 consequent on it. The fact that blood is often poured into the 

 vertebral canal, explains why fractures occurring further backwards 

 than the last sacral vertebra are often attended with extensive 

 disturbance. Most fractures of the sacrum in cattle are accompanied 

 by weakness in the hindquarters, some with complete paralysis. The 

 fragments of bone are generally displaced, voluntary defaecation is 

 always and urination sometimes impossible. Fractures of the caudal 

 vertebrae only paralyse the tail when the first vertebrae are affected. 

 The tail is generally exceedingly mobile, and crepitation may be 

 audible ; not infrequently the skin is injured (compound fracture) ; 

 sometimes the end of the tail remains hanging by a few tendinous 

 shreds of the caudal muscles. 



So long as an animal with fracture of the sacrum is able to stand 

 recovery may occur, but cure is out of the question in complete 

 paraplegia, especially in horses ; in cattle and carnivora paraplegia 

 renders prognosis doubtful. Paralysis of the urinary bladder is a 

 very unfavourable symptom, as, on account of the necessity for 

 emptying the bladder by catheter, infection may occur, the urine 

 decompose, and severe cystitis set in. A cow, however, with paralysis 



