Between 1955 and 1968, we treated five patients who had post-traumatic
Charcot's arthropathy of the spine. All of the patients had a
neurologically complete spinal-cord lesion. A laminectomy was implicated as
the cause in four of the five patients. Spinal arthrodesis was used
successfully to correct the deformity, stabilize the spine, restore sitting
balance, and prevent complications resulting from neuropathic arthropathy
of the vertebrae following complete spinal-cord injury.