Current incidence and characteristics of subaxial cervical and thoracolumbar spine injuries in a metropolitan area in Russia (in St. Petersburg) were studied. The results showed the annual incidence of 15.4 cases per 100,000 population, and the relative frequencies found to be high were that of isolated trauma with SCI (41.8% and 23.7%) and of spine injuries in polytrauma patients (7.5% and 7.9%). Also, the relatively low need for allocated specialty beds was adequately supplied in the setting of centralized delivery of acute spine services.