PADDED VS UNPADDED SPINE BOARD FOR CERVICAL-SPINE IMMOBILIZATION

Objectives: To determine whether padding the long spine board improves patient comfort, affects cervical spine (c-spine) immobilization, or increases sacral transcutaneous O-2 tension. Methods: A prospective ra ndomized, controlled crossover study of healthy volunteers was conduct ed over a two-week period. Participants included 30 volunteers with no previous history of c-spine injury or disease. The subjects were rand omized to either padded or unpadded long spine board immobilization wi th serial measurements of discomfort (using a visual analog scale) and transcutaneous tissue O-2 tension obtained at zero and 30 minutes. Me asurements of ability to flex, extend, rotate, and laterally bend the c-spine were made using a goniometer. The subjects then returned a min imum of three days later to complete the opposite half of the study (p added vs unpadded boards). Results: Subject discomfort was significant ly reduced in the padded group compared with the unpadded group (p = 0 .024). There was no significant difference in flexion (p = 0.410), ext ension (p = 0.231), rotation (p = 0.891), or lateral bending (p = 0.23 0) for the two groups. There was no significant difference in the actu al drop in sacral transcutaneous O-2 tension from time zero to 30 minu tes for the padded and the unpadded groups (mean drop = 14.8% +/- 17.5 % vs 12.2% +/- 16.8%, respectively; p = 0.906). Conclusion: Adding clo sed-cell foam padding to a long spine board significantly improves com fort without compromising c-spine immobilization. Sacral tissue oxygen ation does not appear affected by such padding for healthy volunteers.