Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging

The Flexion-Rotation Test (FRT) is proposed to assess mobility primarily at C1-C2. However, there is no in vivo measurement investigating the validity of the FRT. The purpose of this study was 1) to examine measurement reliability of segmental upper cervical movements using magnetic resonance imagin...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Takasaki, H., Hall, Toby, Oshiro, S., Kaneko, S., Ikemoto, Y., Jull, G.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24637
_version_ 1848751485902389248
author Takasaki, H.
Hall, Toby
Oshiro, S.
Kaneko, S.
Ikemoto, Y.
Jull, G.
author_facet Takasaki, H.
Hall, Toby
Oshiro, S.
Kaneko, S.
Ikemoto, Y.
Jull, G.
author_sort Takasaki, H.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The Flexion-Rotation Test (FRT) is proposed to assess mobility primarily at C1-C2. However, there is no in vivo measurement investigating the validity of the FRT. The purpose of this study was 1) to examine measurement reliability of segmental upper cervical movements using magnetic resonance imaging and 2) to investigate the content validity of the FRT. Nineteen asymptomatic female subjects (mean age: 22.2 years) were evaluated with a 0.2-T horizontally open MRI unit. The segmental rotation angles from Occiput-C1 to C3-C4 and the C4 vertebra were assessed with the head maximally rotated to both the right and the left in two conditions - neck in neutral and in flexion. Good reliability of the method of measurement was suggested by error considerations. A repeated measure ANOVA revealed an interaction between the two different neck starting positions and segment levels (P < 0.0001). Post-hoc analysis revealed that there were significant reductions in the flexed position (P < 0.0001) except for at Occiput-C1. While there was only a 16.3% reduction in rotation range at C1-C2, the reduction was 68.1% at C2-C3, 61.4% at C3-C4, and 76.9% at segments below C4, respectively, supporting the content validity of the FRT as a clinical measure of atlanto-axial mobility.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T07:53:29Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-24637
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:53:29Z
publishDate 2011
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-246372017-09-13T15:13:26Z Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging Takasaki, H. Hall, Toby Oshiro, S. Kaneko, S. Ikemoto, Y. Jull, G. The Flexion-Rotation Test (FRT) is proposed to assess mobility primarily at C1-C2. However, there is no in vivo measurement investigating the validity of the FRT. The purpose of this study was 1) to examine measurement reliability of segmental upper cervical movements using magnetic resonance imaging and 2) to investigate the content validity of the FRT. Nineteen asymptomatic female subjects (mean age: 22.2 years) were evaluated with a 0.2-T horizontally open MRI unit. The segmental rotation angles from Occiput-C1 to C3-C4 and the C4 vertebra were assessed with the head maximally rotated to both the right and the left in two conditions - neck in neutral and in flexion. Good reliability of the method of measurement was suggested by error considerations. A repeated measure ANOVA revealed an interaction between the two different neck starting positions and segment levels (P < 0.0001). Post-hoc analysis revealed that there were significant reductions in the flexed position (P < 0.0001) except for at Occiput-C1. While there was only a 16.3% reduction in rotation range at C1-C2, the reduction was 68.1% at C2-C3, 61.4% at C3-C4, and 76.9% at segments below C4, respectively, supporting the content validity of the FRT as a clinical measure of atlanto-axial mobility. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24637 10.1016/j.math.2010.10.002 fulltext
spellingShingle Takasaki, H.
Hall, Toby
Oshiro, S.
Kaneko, S.
Ikemoto, Y.
Jull, G.
Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging
title Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging
title_full Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging
title_fullStr Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging
title_full_unstemmed Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging
title_short Normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the Flexion-Rotation Test - In vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging
title_sort normal kinematics of the upper cervical spine during the flexion-rotation test - in vivo measurements using magnetic resonance imaging
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24637