CURED BY SNEEZING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 287, 15 September 1933, Page 3

CURED BY SNEEZING.

MAN'S TWISTED NECK.

REMARKABLE SYDNEY CASE. A week or two ago Ralph Commins, aged 25, a salesman, of Mosman, lay flat on his back in a Sydney Hospital bed, where he had lain for a week, with, two vertebrae displaced. Doctors feared for his life. Then one night he had a sneezing fit:—and isneezed the wandering members back into place. Now he iei well on tho road to recovery. Mr Commins and a friend were wrestling in a gymnasium when the former had his neck twisted and suffered intense pain. The hospital surgeons found he was not suffering from paralysis of the neck, as expected but. an X-ray examination revealed serious dislocation of two vertebrae.

An operation was spoken of, but it was decided that in the administering of an anaesthetic, Mr Commins might struggle and do himself further injury, and the case might prove fatal. There was also tho fear that, in any case, movement might injure delicate nerves. Mr Commins lay still for a week. Then came the sneezing fit, and he jerked his head violently. Soon he felt considerably rcbeved. He had a good night's sleep, and in the morning surprised the nurses when he told them tho pain had gone. Another X-ray examination showed that the displacement had been corrected.

, "Everything is going well with me," said Mir Commins a few days later. "But I am not going on the mat again. I am going to stick to hockey in future. Wrestling is over so far as I am concerned."