To Study the effect of Neck Pain on Verticality Perception Using Rod & Frame Test (RFT) as a Quantification of Spatial Orientation Ganu Archana Sameer1, Patil Ashok2 1Lecturer, MGM College of Physiotherapy, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai 2Princial Shririmati Kashibai Navale College of Physiotherapy, Pune Online published on 15 January, 2013. Abstract Objectives To study effect of neck pain on verticality perception using Rod & Frame Test. To find out the changes in the proprioception after relief of pain
Design Cohort study comparing the perception of verticality in patients with neck pain pre & post treatment Methodology 60 subjects in the age group of 20–40 years having mechanical neck pain were selected & tested on the RFT. The RFT was used as a noninvasive method of measuring the perception of verticality. The Rod & Frame Device was tested for the inter (r = 0.90) & intra (r = 0.91) rater reliability on 80 nonsymptomatic subjects as a pre requisite of the study. The RFT requires the subject to set a luminescent rod to the true vertical in presence & absence of a luminescent background frame. The amount of rotation in degrees was measured & recorded by a dial on the back of the device. The pain score on the VAS scale were recorded pre & post treatment which consisted of electrotherapy & exercises Results The perception of verticality was found to be reduced (p<0.05) on RFT in patients with neck pain. ANOVA showed statistically significant difference (p< 0.05) in the RFT scores after relief of pain Conclusion The impairment in the verticality perception indicates that pain has an effect on the proprioceptive mechanism in the cervical spine. Post treatment as nociceptive inflow is reduced there is improvement in the verticality perception. Top Keywords Neckpain, Verticality Perception. Top |