J Korean Neurosurg Soc.  2015 Sep;58(3):231-235. 10.3340/jkns.2015.58.3.231.

The Relationship between Neck Pain and Cervical Alignment in Young Female Nursing Staff

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neurosurgery, Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. vagusmoon@gamil.com

Abstract


OBJECTIVE
Degenerative changes in the cervical spine are commonly accompanied by cervical kyphosis which can cause neck pain. This study examined the relationship between neck pain and cervical alignment.
METHODS
A total of 323 female nursing staff from our hospital were enrolled. Sagittal radiographs of the cervical spine, Body Mass Index (BMI), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) measures of neck and arm pain, Neck Disability Index (NDI) and the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36 scores) were obtained and reviewed retrospectively. Global lordosis (GL) of the cervical spine was measured on radiograph images. Correlations between GL and questionnaire scores were investigated using the following three methods : 1) correlation between GL and questionnaire scores among the entire sample; 2) subgroup analysis of patients with "kyphosis (KYP) : GL scores<0" vs. those with "lordosis (LOR) : GL scores>0" on questionnaire measures; and 3) subgroup analysis of patients with pain vs. those without pain, on GL and questionnaire measures.
RESULTS
There was no significant correlation between GL and any questionnaire measure. There was a significant difference between the mean GLs of the KYP and LOR groups, but there were no group differences in BMI, age or any questionnaire measures. There was no difference between the pain (n=92) and pain-free (n=231) groups in age, BMI or GL, but there were differences in neck, and arm pain, and physical function and NDI scores.
CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that kyphotic deformity was not associated with neck pain.

Keyword

Cervical pain; Neck pain; Alignment; Kyphosis; Lordosis; Nursing staff

MeSH Terms

Animals
Arm
Body Mass Index
Congenital Abnormalities
Female*
Health Surveys
Humans
Kyphosis
Lordosis
Neck Pain*
Neck*
Nursing Staff*
Nursing*
Retrospective Studies
Spine

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Global lordosis was defined as Cobb's angle between C2 lower endplate and C7 upper endplate. A : Negative angle. B : Positive angle.

  • Fig. 2 Study design. VAS : Visual Analogue Scale, SF-36 : Short Form (36) Health Survey.


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