Chronic whiplash associated disorders and neck movement measurements: an instantaneous helical axis approach

• Published in: IEEE transactions on information technology in biomedicine Vol. 7; no. 4; pp. 274 - 282
• Main Authors: Ohberg, F., Grip, H., Wiklund, U., Sterner, Y., Karlsson, J.S., Gerdle, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01-12-2003
• Subjects: Adult; Algorithms; Costs; Female; Head; Head Movements; Head rotation; Hospitals; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Injuries; Instantaneous helical axis (IHA); Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Motion analysis; Motion measurement; Muscles; Neck; Neck - physiopathology; Pain; Physical Examination - methods; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Shoulder; Video Recording - methods; Whiplash Injuries - diagnosis; Whiplash Injuries - physiopathology; Whiplash-associated disorders (WAD)
• ISSN: 1089-7771; 1558-0032; 1558-0032
• DOI: 10.1109/TITB.2003.821328

This paper presents an assessment tool for objective neck movement analysis of subjects suffering from chronic whiplash-associated disorders (WAD). Three-dimensional (3-D) motion data is collected by a commercially available motion analysis system. Head rotation, defined in this paper as the rotation angle around the instantaneous helical axis (IHA), is used for extracting a number of variables (e.g., angular velocity and range, symmetry of motion). Statistically significant differences were found between controls and subjects with chronic WAD in a number of variables.