Mary Woodward said there were 3 shots and the 1st shot missed everything

[Andrew Mason]

Could JFK's spaying his elbows outwards and "grasping at his neck" have been his neuromuscular reaction to having his spinal cord damaged by the bullet that exited his neck?

No. There is unequivocal evidence that his spinal cord was NOT damaged.

[Tom Graves]

There is unequivocal evidence that JFK's spinal cord was not damaged.

"The [HSCA] panel agrees that the tissue disruption due to the temporary cavity created by passage of a high or intermediate velocity missile might have produced fractures of the transverse processes of one or several of the lower cervical and/or upper thoracic vertebrae in President Kennedy's neck as indicated by the postmortem X-rays There are significant muscle masses attached to the vertebrae which would receive tremendous shock even if several inches distant from such a missile. A direct grazing missile impact may have occurred, but it would not have been necessary to cause the damage visible in the X-rays."

. . . . . .

Excerpts from a memo to Mark Flanagan, U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations Staff Member, from David 0. Davis, MD, Professor and Chairman Department of Radiology, The George Washington University Hospital, Washington, DC:

"Evaluation of the pre-autopsy film shows that there is some subcutaneous or interstitial air overlying the right C7and T1 transverse processes There is disruption of the integrity of the transverse process of T1 which in comparison with its mate on the opposite side and also with the previously taken film mentioned above indicates that there has been a fracture in that area."

[…]

"There is evidence of interstitial air on the pre-autopsy film and evidence of a right T1 transverse process fracture both on the pre-autopsy and post-autopsy film."

[Andrew Mason]

3. How official and medical reviews lean

Several strands of evidence pull toward a neurologic/spinal component:

The HSCA medical panel and later neurologically oriented discussions accept that the back/head motions after the head shot can be neuromuscular in origin, i.e., seizure‑like “violent straightening and stiffening” of the body after central nervous system trauma. That makes neuromuscular explanations for earlier reactions at least conceptually acceptable in official circles.

Lattimer’s C‑6–injury paper explicitly ties the upward jerk of Kennedy’s flexed elbows between Z‑225–235 to “stimulation of C‑6,” and calls the resulting arm posture an “almost classic demonstration” of a Thorburn position.

Lattimer is not a neurologist. Read Dr. Thorburn’s paper.  The original report (Brain: Vol 9, 1887) states that the man, L.F., fell while on a ladder. His head fell backward while his feet were trapped in the rungs.  It describes the immediate effect which indicates that his spinal cord was immediately damaged by the fall:

• "He at once became unconscious, remaining so for several hours. On regaining consciousness he found that his legs were quite immovable and his arms partially so, while there was numbness in the lower portion of his body, and insensitiveness to external impressions, coupled with a dull aching pain. There was also great pain in the head, neck, and shoulders. The urine had to be drawn off twice daily. He remained in this condition until his admission to the Infirmary on the fourth day after the accident.
  
  When admitted he was found to present complete paralysis of the lower limbs, and of the abdominal and thoracic muscles. All the muscles of the arms were paralysed, with the exception of the biceps, brachialis anticus, supinator longus and deltoid, the consequence being that the elbows were flexed, the shoulder abducted and rotated outwards, and the hands and arms fell into the position indicated in the annexed engraving (Fig. 1, p. 512), taken from a photograph...

The post-mortem confirmed that there was physical damage to the spinal cord due to the spinal fractures:

• "...At the post-mortem examination was found depression of the 6th cervical spine and laminae; the disc between the 5th and 6th vertebrae was broken across, the upper part of the body of the 6th vertebra being tilted backwards. The laminae wore uninjured, but the right superior articular process of the 5th vertebra, and the corresponding transverse process of the 6th were broken off. At this point the cord was compressed, being flattened for a distance of about 1/4 inch."

No major forensic or neurological review has produced a strong, film‑based counter‑model showing that the arm movement is better explained solely by voluntary choking‑type behavior; most critiques focus on whether it is a strict Thorburn case, not on denying that neuromuscular reflexes could be doing a lot of the work.

What “major forensic or neurological review” has determined the JFK’s reaction was an involuntary neuromuscular response?  Lattimer doesn’t qualify.

[John Corbett]

We can quibble as to whether or not JFK was exhibiting a true Thorburn's response to the bullet that passed through his throat. Does it really matter? He was obviously reacting to a gunshot and his reaction closely followed the bulging of JBC's jacket indicating his reaction was an immediate one. It also perfectly coincides with JBC's reflexive arm flip. Furthermore, Zapruder exhibited a camera jiggle at Z227 which meshes perfectly with a shot fired at Z220 and striking JFK and JBC at or about Z222. There is nothing in the Z-film that remotely meshes with JFK being hit at Z193 or JBC being hit at Z270. In the words of the late, great Conway Twitty, "It's only make believe".

[Tom Graves]

Tom Graves asked: "Did JFK splay his elbows outward and "clutch his throat" because he couldn't breathe?"

Andrew Mason answered: Possibly.  All we know is that the wound would have interfered with his breathing and that full realization would not start until he tried to take his first breath after the bullet passed through. We don't know when he tried to take that first breath. I am just saying that there is a reasonable basis for there being a later reaction to that wound that is based on simple undisputed facts: a hole in one's airway will affect breathing and a human breathes about 15 times a minute.

ME: Is it logical to say JFK's splaying his elbows out and "clutching" at his neck in the Zapruder film should not be interpreted to mean he was wounded a split-second earlier by the bullet that exited his neck, i.e., that it wasn't a neuromuscular reaction to his spine's being traumatized / damaged, but his attempt to breathe?

Perplexity AI: No, that’s not a logical or well‑supported reinterpretation. Given what we know about spine trauma and the timing in Zapruder, treating JFK’s abrupt elbow splay and “clutching” as primarily an attempt to breathe rather than a neuromuscular reaction to the neck/spine wound doesn’t fit the medical or ballistic context.

What we actually see in Zapruder

As the limousine re‑emerges from behind the sign, Kennedy’s elbows lift and splay out, his forearms flex, and his hands come toward his throat/upper chest; he then leans forward and left.

This pattern closely resembles what neurologists describe in reflex reactions to sudden neural injury: neck and trunk flexion, abduction/flexion of the arms, elbows flexed and forearms pronated.

That’s a classic neuromuscular pattern, not just a conscious “I can’t breathe” grab.

Why a simple “attempt to breathe” explanation is weak

Isolated transverse‑process fractures mainly produce severe local pain and guarding, not a stereotyped, symmetric limb pattern; they “seldom exert pressure on adjacent neural structures, resulting in minimal neurological complications.”

When high‑energy trauma does produce a specific patterned movement (like the bilateral elbow flexion seen here), clinicians suspect cord or major nerve involvement or a generalized startle/neurologic reaction, not merely conscious reaching.

Wound‑ballistics modeling specific to JFK notes that the temporary cavity and shear forces in the neck can stretch or concuss the spinal cord, causing minor neural damage and neuromuscular signs.

In other words, the form of the movement matches reflexive neuromuscular response better than rational, voluntary “I’m trying to open my airway” behavior.

How mainstream reconstructions treat the motion

Warren Commission and HSCA: describe JFK as hit in the back/neck, then “raised his elbows and clenched his fists in front of his face and neck,” lean forward/left, and only later experience the seizure‑like neuromuscular reaction to the head shot.

Lattimer and other medical commentators explicitly interpret the right‑arm “Thorburn reflex” position as due to shock at C6–7 and brachial plexus involvement, i.e., neuromuscular reaction to cervical spine/cord trauma from the neck bullet.

You don’t have to endorse every detail of Lattimer’s model to see that the consensus medical reading is: the arm position is a reaction to the neck/spine wound, not a simple purposeful “attempt to breathe.”

A careful way to phrase it

Given HSCA’s documented T1 transverse‑process fracture and the observed movement pattern, a more logical and defensible statement would be:

JFK’s elbow splaying and apparent “clutching” in the Zapruder film are best interpreted as a neuromuscular reaction to the cervical/upper thoracic spine being damaged by the neck bullet, rather than as a purely conscious attempt to breathe a split‑second after the wound.