STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study was performed with the use of magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the type and degree of soft tissue disruption associated with flexion-distraction injuries of the subaxial spine. OBJECTIVE: To determine what soft tissue structures are injured in flexion-distraction injuries of the subaxial spine. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Prior published reports of unilateral and bilateral cervical facet dislocations have described the analyzed mechanisms and biomechanics of this injury subtype. No retrospective magnetic resonance imaging analysis of associated soft tissue disruption has been documented. METHODS: Magnetic resonance imaging evaluations of the cervical spine were obtained for all patients with a flexion-distraction injury, Stages 2 (unilateral facet dislocation) and 3 (bilateral facet dislocation), between September 1994 and May 1998. Two neuroradiologists, blinded to both clinical and radiographic findings, graded all the soft tissue structures for evidence of attenuation or disruption. The soft tissue structures were graded on a scale of 1 (intact), 2 (indeterminate), or 3 (disrupted). RESULTS: For this study, 48 patients satisfied the inclusion criteria: 25 with unilateral facet dislocation and 23 with bilateral facet dislocation. Disruption to the posterior musculature, interspinous ligament, supraspinous ligament, facet capsule, ligamentum flavum, and posterior and anterior longitudinal ligaments was found in a statistically significant number of patients with bilateral facet dislocation. For most of these structures, disruption was found to be statistically significant in patients with a unilateral facet dislocation, except for the posterior longitudinal ligament, in which significance was not consistently demonstrated using 95% confidence intervals in the binomial testing. In a comparison between unilateral and bilateral facet dislocations using a two-sided Fisher's exact test, it was found that disruption to the anterior and posterior longitudinal ligaments and the left facet capsule were statistically significant, with all three more prominent in bilateral facet dislocation. A multivariate analysis between unilateral and bilateral facet dislocations showed that disruption to the anterior longitudinal ligament was associated significantly with a bilateral facet dislocation. Disc disruption was found to be associated significantly with both injury types, but was more common in bilateral facet dislocation, although this difference in intergroup comparisons was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Unilateral and bilateral facet dislocations of the subaxial spine are associated with damage to numerous soft tissue structures that provide stability to the lower cervical spine. Damage to the posterior longitudinal ligament did not occur consistently in unilateral facet dislocations. Bilateral facet dislocations were associated significantly with disruption to the posterior and anterior longitudinal ligaments and left facet capsule, as compared with unilateral facet dislocations. Magnetic resonance imaging allows visualization of these disruptions.