A mother from Milton Keynes has described how a morning yawn left her with a broken neck and permanent nerve damage. Hayley Black, 36, was getting up to prepare a bottle for her newborn daughter when she yawned and stretched, causing two discs in her neck to shoot forward into her spinal cord.
Ms Black, a former emergency call handler, said she felt an instant electric shock sensation and her arm became stuck in the air. She told her husband, Ian Black, 39, to call an ambulance, and was taken to hospital in excruciating pain. Initial scans showed nothing, but further tests revealed that the C6 and C7 bones in her neck had been displaced by the force of the yawn.
Doctors told her she had a 50/50 chance of walking again or even surviving. Emergency surgery was successful, but she has been left with permanent nerve damage and is unable to work. She now tries to stifle yawns, saying she remains traumatised by the incident in May 2016.
Ms Black shared her story on TikTok, where a video captioned 'I broke my neck yawning' has attracted more than 1,000 views. In the clip, she explains how two discs shot forward into her spinal cord, compressing her spine. She described the event as a freak occurrence and warned others that something as simple as a yawn can have serious consequences.
