Uniformity of the Borden′s and Harrison′s methods for measuring cervical spine alignment

English Keywords:Cervical spine  Curvature  Measuring method

English Abstract:

  【Abstract】 Objective：To determine the uniformity of the Borden′s and Harrison′s methods for measuring cervical spine alignment.Method：Lateral X-rays of the cervical spines were taken in cases from healthcare center of Xuanwu Hospital，and patients with neck or shoulder pain in last six months and cervical spine fracture，infection，tumor，deformity or dislocation were excluded in this study.As a result，there were 205 volunteers meeting the inclusion criteria.There were 93 males and 112 females，with the average age of 38.3 years old（range，15-79 years old）.Two orthopaedic doctors were involved in the measurement，with each doctor repeating 3 times.The cervical lordosis measured by Borden′s method was defined by the ratio of measured value to sagittal diameter of C4.Paired-sample test was performed to determine the uniformity between two doctors′measurements.Result：The alignment curve by Harrison′ method from two doctors was 33.0°±11.5° and 34.8°±11.7° respectively，which showed significant difference（P＜0.01）；while that by Borden′ method was 0.79±0.27 and 0.77±0.27 respectively，which showed no significant difference（P＞0.01）.Conclusion：Borden′s method has uniformity than Harrison′s method for measuring cervical alinment.