A study of five cervicocephalic relocation tests in three different subject groups

Abstract

The test of targeting the NHP indicates that relocation inaccuracy exists in patients with neck pain with a trend to suggest that the deficit may be greater in whiplash patients. Tests employing unfamiliar postures or more complex movement were not successful in differentiating subject groups.

Using the cervical range of motion (CROM) device to assess head repositioning accuracy in individuals with cervical radiculopathy in comparison to neck- healthy individuals

“…The observed statistically significant difference in HRA is consistent with findings from previous studies that included individuals with other types of neck disorders (Revel et al, 1991;Loudon et al, 1997;Heikkila and Wenngren, 1998;Kristjansson et al, 2003;Treleaven et al, 2003;Roren et al, 2009). The current values for HRA also are similar to those reported in a study comparing individuals with whiplash-associated disorders to neck-healthy individuals in which mean HRA was respectively 3.6° and 2° after rotation to the right and 4.1° and 2.5° after rotation to the left (Treleaven et al, 2003).…”

“…The ability to reposition the head in a neutral position after active head movements has been used to indirectly assess impairment in sensorimotor function originating from the neck (Revel et al, 1991;Loudon et al, 1997;Heikkila and Wenngren, 1998;Kristjansson et al, 2003;Treleaven et al, 2003). Larger than typical errors in head repositioning accuracy (HRA) have been reported in individuals with neck disorders (Revel et al, 1991;Loudon et al, 1997;Kristjansson et al, 2003;Treleaven et al, 2003); although the results are controversial (Rix and Bagust, 2001;Hill et al, 2009); without a consensus on the best method (Strimpakos, 2011).…”

“…Larger than typical errors in head repositioning accuracy (HRA) have been reported in individuals with neck disorders (Revel et al, 1991;Loudon et al, 1997;Kristjansson et al, 2003;Treleaven et al, 2003); although the results are controversial (Rix and Bagust, 2001;Hill et al, 2009); without a consensus on the best method (Strimpakos, 2011). The original test used a laser to assess HRA (Revel et al, 1991), a method that has since been widely used (Heikkila and Wenngren, 1998;Vuillerme et al, 2008;Pinsault and Vuillerme, 2010) and that exhibits good reliability (Pinsault et al, 2008a) and validity (Pinsault et al, 2008b;Roren et al, 2009).…”

Neck motion, motor control, pain and disability: A longitudinal study of associations in neck pain patients in physiotherapy treatment

“…Discrepancies between the studies in the calculation of JPE and test procedures used may partly explain the conflicting evidence. We therefore reanalyzed the data using repositioning error in the primary plane of motion [49] and the variable error, which is a measure of the variability of the repositioning [6]. The analysis revealed no significant difference between the groups, in agreement with our results for the absolute error.…”

“…Several studies are in agreement with no deficit in proprioception measured by JPE in NP compared to healthy subjects [14,47,48]. However, other have found that neck pain subjects had significantly larger repositioning error [49], or significantly larger variable error compared to healthy subjects [6]. Discrepancies between the studies in the calculation of JPE and test procedures used may partly explain the conflicting evidence.…”