[bbfan1991]

An Australian mother was almost left paralysed after a heavy sneeze dislocated her neck.

Monique Jeffrey dislocated two vertebrae in her neck two weeks ago while in bed reading emails.



"It was such a big shock when you have such a busy life," she told the Herald Sun. "I have a 10-month-old baby, my husband and I work full time and it only takes something as small as a sneeze to turn it all upside down."

"I just knew something was wrong. I felt something move and I was in excruciating pain," she said of the accident.

Jeffrey managed to text her husband before being taken to Sandringham Hospital in Victoria. Several hours later, she experienced numbness in her left arm.

She was immediately moved to The Alfred Hospital's spinal trauma unit in Melbourne, where neurosurgeon Patrick Chan explained that she had actually dislocated her neck.

Chan explained that Jeffrey's cervical one and cervical two vertebrae had jumped over each other during her sneeze.

The doctor said that it is very rare for a sneeze to cause such a severe injury, which is usually seen in heavy trauma victims.

"I think she's very unlucky and it was a violent sneeze," Chan added.

Thankfully, Jeffrey was given a halo traction with weights to gradually move the vertebrae back into their correct position.

"I am very unlucky," she added. "Honestly, who sneezes and does this? Every time I think of it now I laugh, I just can't believe it."

A woman from Chichester was paralysed for two years after a heavy sneeze while watching EastEnders in 2007.