the motor vehicle accidents are one of the major reasons for cervical spine injuries ( especially upper cervical spine ) in 0 - 9 age group , whereas sports injuries are one of the major reasons for cervical spine injuries ( especially lower cervical spine ) over the age of 10 . some factors such as larger head , underdeveloped neck musculature , partially ossified wedge - shaped vertebral bodies and more angled facet horizontally , ligamentous elasticity make the upper cervical more sensitive to spine injuries under the age of 10 . from the age of 10 , the younger age group ( aged 0 - 10 years ) is more prone to upper cervical spine facet dislocations . however , ufds in the lower cervical spine are found to be less common in this age group in the literature . this article presents a 9-year - old boy who suffered from locked ufd without neurological deficits . the head of the boy had been entrapped and squeezed by the automatic sliding garage door and he had tried to pull back his head forcefully [ figure 1 ] . after the injury , he had been brought to local hospital for the neck pain . after the clinical and radiologic examination , c6 - 7 ufd was diagnosed and tried to treat with cervical collar . because of the unresolved neck pain and limited motion of the neck , the patient admitted to our center after three months of injury . there was no focal neurologic deficit and injury of the other systems on physical examination . the locked facet dislocation between the c6 - 7 level and anterolisthesis of c6 and loss of cervical lordosis were seen on x - ray . there was left locked ufd without associated fracture on three - dimensional computerized tomography ( 3d - ct ) , and no disc and spinal cord ( sc ) damage on magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) was seen [ figure 2 ] . due to the delayed dislocation , after partial laminectomy , ligamentum flavum excision and left facet joint reduction with the help of lamina spreader was performed ; fixation was obtained by c5-c7 posterior instrumentation . in the same stage , c6 - 7 discectomy , cage implantation and c6 - 7 anterior plating was performed via anterior subaxial approach [ figure 3 ] . three months after the surgery , there was no pain with motion and fusion was seen in the first third month control [ figure 4 ] . ( a ) injury mechanism : distraction and rotation ( b ) left unilateral facet dislocation of c6 - 7 ( a ) the facet dislocation between c6 and c7 and anterolysthesis of c6 and loss of cervical lordosis were seen on lateral cervical x - ray . ( b ) left unilateral facet dislocation was observed on ct ; ( c ) there was no associated sc damage on mri postoperative ( a ) anteroposterior ( b ) lateral x - ray interbody fusion on a ) coronal and b ) sagittal ct imges c ) facet fusion on sagittal ct image ufd is more common in adults than in children and occurs as a result of flexion - rotation forces leading to partial or complete damage to interspinous , posterior longitudinal ligament , capsule and disc in the cervical spine . the motor vehicle accidents and sports injuries are common reasons of the cervical spine injuries . after the head of the boy had been entrapped and squeezed by the sliding door , he tried to pull it back forcefully . pulling out the head suddenly and forcefully toward back may have created flexion and rotation movements on the cervical spine . in the presence of neck pain and restricted motion , the clearing process always requires a complete clinical evaluation , and occasionally warrants adjunctive imaging . if there is any suspicion , diagnosis should be confirmed by ct and mri in addition to direct x - rays . while the surgical treatment is the first preferred method by most surgeons in adult patients , closed reduction is performed in children in the absence of neurologic deficit because of the growing and healing potential of the children . a case with similar injuries without neurologic deficit and treated with closed reduction under general anesthesia was published by prada et al . due to the delayed case , no closed reduction attempt was tried . fibrotic tissue occurring after the injury can damage to sc and make a mechanical barrier for reduction in delayed cases without neurologic deficit . chen et al . reported an article about a 22-month - old child with ufd and neurological deficit and without disc damage on mri . after failed closed reduction , posterior reduction and fixation had been performed , and good results were reported . presented a case of 10-month - old infant with neurologically intact c6 - 7 ufd . although failed closed reduction they applied conservative treatment with custom - made orthotics . at the 2-month follow - up normal cervical alignment and at the end of the 18-month follow - up , posterior approach was chosen first in order to achieve direct reduction and to increase the stability anterior approach was performed in the same session . it is thought that to obtain rigid fixation in this delayed case would prevent the instability and redislocation . during the follow - up , no complication was observed . but in patients who underwent cervical fusion , malalignment and adjacent segment degeneration may occur . mcgrory et al . presented that after surgical fixation of fractures and dislocations of the cervical spine , osteoarthritic changes occurred in the adjacent segments as a long - term complication . however , surgical fixation is required for the case of recurrent instability , failed closed reduction , irresponsible to conservative treatment and delayed diagnosis . unilateral cervical locked facet is a rare injury in pediatric population especially under 10 of age . because of its rarity also these injuries can be seen as a result of rare injury mechanism and a detailed radiologic examination should be carried out not to overlook an accompanying pathology . surgical treatment should be preferred in the presences of locked and delayed ufd cases especially . the long term results of surgical intervention should be strictly followed for adjacent segment degeneration .