Railway spine

“ . . . the notion that railway spine was a functional disorder tended to emerge as a useful tool in resolving conflicts over the responsibility of railways for the victims of accidents. This contributed significantly to legitimating the concept of the functional nervous disorder. During World War I, the utility of a functional interpretation of shell shock in resolving issues of the responsibility of the state for traumatized soldiers would play a parallel and more dramatic role in legitimating the concept of the functional nervous disorder” (Brown III, 328).