The Relevance of Assessing Sagittal Cervical Spine Parameters

Neck pain is a prevalent musculoskeletal condition with a multifactorial etiology, often influenced by biomechanical, occupational, and postural factors. The present study aimed to assess the relationship of cervical alignment parameters, occipito-cervical angle (OC), and C1-C7 cervical sagittal vertical axis (cSVA) with neck pain and demographic variables.

A prospective observational study was conducted on 255 adult patients of either gender who presented with neck pain at a tertiary care hospital. Radiographic measurements of the Cobb's angle, OC angle, and cSVA were recorded. Clinical data, including pain type (non-radiating, radiating, radiculopathy/myelopathy), and anthropometric parameters, were also recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 25.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA), with significance set at p < 0.05.

The study included 255 subjects (M-102; F-152) with a mean age of 43.91 years and a mean BMI of 24.75 kg/m². The mean Cobb's angle, OC angle, and cSVA were recorded as 27.24±9.17, 26.78°±3.84, and 28.48±5.42 mm, respectively. No associations were found between these alignment parameters and neck pain, and also with age, gender, and BMI (p>0.05).

The findings suggest that occipital and cervical alignment parameters have no relation to neck pain or demographic variables. Assessing these parameters on radiographs may not be useful in routine clinical practice.