Systematic Review: Craniocervical posture and craniofacial morphology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the published evidence regarding the association between head and cervical posture and craniofacial morphology. An electronic search was conducted in PubMed, Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane databases up to 23 March 2012. Abstracts that seemed to correspond with the goals of this review were selected by a consensus between two independent reviewers. The original articles were retrieved and evaluated to ensure they match the inclusion criteria. Only articles that directly compared head and/or cervical posture with craniofacial morphology were included. A total of 84 articles were found of which 12 matched all inclusion criteria. Detailed analysis of the methodology in selected articles revealed quality scores ranging from 'weak' to 'moderate'. Nine articles were cross-sectional studies, whereas only three were longitudinal studies. The findings of selected articles were linked together in order to clarify the evidence on sagittal and vertical craniofacial features as well as growth prediction regarding different postures of the head and neck. On the basis of the data obtained from the literature, significant associations were found between variables concerning head and cervical posture and craniofacial morphology. However, the results of this systematic review suggest that such associations should be carefully interpreted, considering that correlation coefficients found ranged from low to moderate. Moreover, conflicting results were observed regarding some postural variables. Further longitudinal studies are required to elucidate the relationship between the development of craniofacial morphology and functional aspects of head and cervical posture.

Myofunctional therapy and prefabricated functional appliances: an overview of the history and evidence

“…Nasal obstruction has also been postulated to restrain forward development of the face through cervical extension of head posture and an alteration in gravitational forces on the facial soft tissues . However a recent systematic review found that head posture only has a low to moderate correlation with facial morphology . Whatever relationship does exist between nasal obstruction and facial growth, it is non‐linear, complex and it remains to be fully elucidated …”

Morphological comparison of cervical vertebrae in adult females with different sagittal craniofacial patterns: A cross-sectional study

“…[24] It has been demonstrated in the literature that there are significant differences between head and cervical posture among different craniofacial configurations. [25] At this point, investigation of the possible effects of skeletal pattern on cervical vertebrae-related parameters, without the influence of growth, was considered necessary, as it would eliminate the question marks in accepting cervical vertebral age as an indicator of overall maturation, and accordingly, this study was planned.…”

The craniofacial morphology of school children in Kosovska Mitrovica

“…CVI (indeks kraniofacijalne varijabilnosti) za svaku ispitivanu grupu. Apsolutne vrednosti antropometrijskih vrednosti dečaka su komparirani sa rezultatima devojčica iste starosne grupe [6,7]. Indeks kraniofacijalne varijabilnosti (CVI) kreiran je za grupu ispitanika serijom antropometrijskog merenja lica i lobanje za svaku uzrasnu grupu za oba pola, kako je i prikazano tabelama.Ovaj indeks je mera varijacije koja iskazuje odstupanje od pojedinačne vrednosti obeležja od srednje vrednostiu broju standardnih devijacija [6,7,8,9,10].…”

“…Indeks kraniofacijalne varijabilnosti ima opseg vrednosti od 0.874 ± 0.338 za devojčice, 0.824 ± 0.333 za dečake [5,6,7,8]. Normalan opseg CVI bi trebalo da ima 95% ispitanika a vrednosti indeksa veće od 1,8-2 pa i više ukazuje na nepravilan postnatalni rast i razvoj, disharmoniju i kvantitativnu potvrdu za odstupanja od normalnog, gde podrazumeva i slučajeve sa sindromoma.…”