Windows 7: File corruption?

I have a copy of my thesis (my most recent version...not backed up of course) that I have been unable to open. The error is:

The file cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents. Details: The name in the end tag of the element must match the element type in the start tag. Location: Part:/word/document.xml, Line: 1262, Column: 124679.

Does anyone happen to know how to correct this error? I am working with Word 2010.

Many thanks!

If word (I assume) is set up to auto save there is another copy. I am not an office guru so you may be best served googling restoring from auto save

As per my research, there is no fix other than the work around by zigzag . Or to use some 3rd party word recovery tools.

This is from Word Help:

Open a backup copy

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Open.

1. In the box next to the File name box on a computer that is running Windows Vista, or in the Files of type box on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP, click All Files.
2. If you want to open a backup copy that was saved in a different folder, locate and open the folder.
3. Click the arrow next to Views , and then click Details.
   1. In the Name column, the backup copy name appears as Backup of document name. In the Type column, the file type for the backup copy appears as Microsoft Word Backup Document.
4. Locate and double-click the backup copy to open it.
5. If you want to work with the backup copy as a regular Word document, click the Microsoft Office Button , click Save As, and then type a name for the file in the File Name box.

If you have some knowledge in XTML you might be able to fix it:
First of all, make a copy before you mess with the docx to be on the safe side
If the open/Repair function of Word doesn't fix it, rename it (docx is effectively a ZIP file)
pull out the document.xml and open it with an editor...most likely some of the xml tags need to be balanced ( = open tag must match closing tag). Once you're done, replace the one inside the ZIP with the edited one, rename it back to docx and hopefully you're back in the game

-DG