The vertebrae, like any other bones, can be fractured by a blow, accidental or deliberate – a car crash, a fall from a height, a bullet may chip one of the vertebrae, or even detach a fragment. Too vigorous exercise may do the same: if a tendon attached to one of the transverse processes is overstretched, it may come away, taking a piece of the bone with it. Violent, unskilled physical effort may also cause microscopic fractures in the cartilage covering the flat sides of the vertebral bodies.
Spinal fractures are often, but not invariably, painful; they usually mend with rest. A crush fracture may displace part of a vertebra so as to produce a slight hump that can be seen and felt. Sometimes an X-ray discloses bone damage of which the owner of the spine was unaware, and which gave no trouble. However, the most serious fractures, those that damage the spinal cord, can cause paralysis below the site of the injury.
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