Cowherd's injury: Traumatic retrospondyloptosis of L1 over L2 in a 7-year-old child

Traumatic retrolisthesis of the first lumbar vertebra is a rare injury and only one case has been documented in the literature. We report a case of traumatic retrolisthesis of the first lumbar vertebra in a 7-year old child. He was injured after being dragged by a cow and presented with Frenkel grade A paraplegia. His plain radiographs revealed complete retrolisthesis of the first lumbar vertebra over the second. The patient was treated surgically with open reduction and sublaminar wire loop rectangle fixation. The patient showed Frankle grade D (Frankle grade) neurological recovery in the postoperative period over a period of 15 months. This case is reported in view of rarity and mechanism of injury is described.