Most critical fact that has to be borne in mind in these victims is the possibility of a cervical spinal cord injury. Even without any apparent external injuries to head/neck there is a very high probability of occurrence of such an injury in these cases. These are quite unstable and any relative movement of the head or body can de-stabilize the fracture causing damage/compression of cervical spinal cord. This is the region that holds the most critical centers of respiratory and heart rate control and any damage there will
result in immediate death. Therefore, inadvertent moving of these patients would do more harm than good and refrain from moving these victims as much as possible if the specialized emergency medical support is en route.