Reference values of cranio-vertebral angle in healthy young adults: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Cranio-vertebral angle (CVA) is an important landmark to rule out any postural abnormality in cervical spine, which demonstrates its biomechanical importance, since its alignment can affect head position, neck muscle activities, respiratory functions, spinal mobility, etc. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate reference value of this angle in healthy young adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 300 healthy young individuals aged between 21 to 35 years. Data was collected through purposive sampling. The participants were excluded if they suffered from any trauma, head injury, tumour, fall or cancer, or any sort of neurological or cardio-pulmonary disorder. Participants were divided into three groups according to age (Group A = 21-25 years; Group B = 26-30 years; Group C = 31-35 years). CVA was assessed using MB Ruler software and photogrammetry technique. RESULTS: Data was analysed using SPSS version 20.0. Kolmogorov-Smirnoff test was used to detect normality of data. Reference values of CVA were depicted according to age groups (Within median and inter-quartile range). Kruskal-Wallis test depicted statistically significant difference between groups (p-value = 0.001). Spearmann Correlation was used to assess associations of CVA with age (ꝭ=-0.578, p-value= 0.001). DISCUSSION: This is the first study which evaluates age-specific reference values for CVA. Since the results depict different reference values for different age groups further studies within this domain can utilize CVA reference values according to the age group of participants. CONCLUSION: CVA is important in assessment of Forward Head Posture (FHP), but a single reference value cannot be utilised for all the age groups. Specific age groups require assessment of CVA at specific values.