A CLINICAL METHOD FOR MEASURING SEGMENTAL FLEXION MOBILITY IN THE CERVICOTHORACIC SPINE AND A MODEL FOR CLASSIFICATION

Pain and limitation of spinal mobility are symptoms frequently reporte d by patients. Many methods have been used to assess the total range o f mobility in the different parts of the spine, but there is no method for clinical examination of segmental mobility. The aim of this study was to describe such a technique concerning of segmental flexion mobi lity in the cervico-thoracic spine, C7-T5, and to present a model for classification of mobility. The results of this study show that the re lative flexion mobility examined, according to the Cervico-Thoracic-Ra tio technique (CTR), may become a valuable complement to conventional methods of assessing mobility in the cervical spine. The normalized CT R values are less influenced by the individual factors age, body weigh t, height and number of years at work and the classification model pre sented makes functional analysis of segmental flexion mobility in the cervico-junction and upper thoracic spine more substantial.