Effect of Head and Neck Anthropometry on the Normal Range of Motion of the Cervical Spine of Prepubescent Children

Application of cervical spine range of motion data and related anthropometric measures of the head and neck include physical therapy, product design, and computational modeling. This study utilized the Cervical Range of Motion device (CROM) to define the normal range of motion of the cervical spine for subjects five (5) through ten (10) years of age. And, the data was collected and analyzed with respect to anatomical measures such as head circumference, face height, neck length, and neck circumference. This study correlates these static anthropometric measures to the kinematic measurement of head flexion, extension, lateral extension, and rotation. An analysis using Pearson's correlation coefficient and a hypothesis test to evaluate the significance of the correlation indicated a statistically significant linear relationship between neck length and flexion r(156) = +0.16, p<0.042, neck length and lateral extension r(156) = +0.21, p<0.009, neck length and rotation r(156) = +0.17, p<0.035, neck circumference and lateral extension r(156) = −0.23, p<0.004, and head circumference and rotation r(156) = +0.21, p<0.009.