An investigation of poor cervical resting posture.

In an attempt to measure cervical resting posture, a device was developed to quantify the excursion of anatomical points on the upper and lower cervical spine. Measurements were taken from 427 randomly chosen subjects who had never sustained an injury to the neck or back. Excursion measurements were in good agreement over a month interval. Poor cervical resting posture was described by dividing the excursion angle data at each anatomical point into quintiles, and designating the first and fifth quintiles as extreme. Subjects whose upper and lower aspects of the cervical spine excursed by extremely small angles, and subjects whose upper and lower aspects of the cervical spine excursed by extremely large angles, were considered to have poor posture. These postures were markedly different. The study highlighted the need for further research into influences on habitual cervical resting posture.