Why is it that, like in action movies, when you break someone’s neck they die? Isn’t it just like breaking your arm? I know there’s your medula there, but why does it kill you?
In: Biology
Well, first, it’s the movies. Breaking a neck in real life doesn’t always kill you right away.
But when it does kill instantly, it’s because breaking or wrenching apart the spine bones also usually destroys the spinal cord inside the bones.
When the spinal cord is damaged enough, it turns you into an instant quadriplegic. You become paralyzed from that point down. Your heart may keep beating for a a while, but breathing is probably going to stop. Your brain then basically suffocates, you black out, then go comatose and then die.
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