Neck-tongue syndrome on sudden turning of the head

Abstract

A syndrome of unilateral upper nuchal or occipital pain, with or without numbness in these areas, accompanied by simultaneous ipsilateral numbness of the tongue is explicable by compression of the second cervical root in the atlantoaxial space on sharp rotation of the neck. Afferent fibres from the lingual nerve travelling via the hyopoglossal nerve to the second cervical root provide a plausible anatomical explanation for compression of that root causing numbness of half the tongue.