HUMAN BALANCE EVALUATION IN SUBJECTS WITH CERVICAL INJURIES COMPARED TO HEALTHY SUBJECTS: RESULTSOF A PILOT STUDY

Introduction It is very important that forensic medicine properly calculates the biological damage not only through the disturbance indicatedby the patient, but more accurately through instrumental diagnosis. Our aim was to verify through posturography the qualitativeand quantitative alterations of postural stability in subjects with cervical trauma, compared to the control group. Methods We analysed 78subjects, selecting 42 volunteers and distinguishing a control group of 22 normal men (NM) and a group of 20 men (WM) with a positiveanamnesis of whiplash injury for six months. Through a force platform, we recorded the Centre of Pressure (CoP) movements of thesegroups, both with their eyes open, and closed. The data was used to compare between the two groups, with both open and closed eyes.Results During the closed eyes test, those subjects with cervical injuries, displayed a significant increase in anterior-posterior oscillationvelocity (p<0.05) compared to the control group, with a significant reduction (p<0.01) of ratio between Shifting Length (SL) of CoP on thepolygon support and total envelop area (EA, mm2) of CoP movements in the polygon support (SL/EA-ratio, mm-1). During the closed eyestest, subjects with cervical injury showed a significant anterior shifting of the mean position of CoP compared to the other group performingthe open eyes test. Discussion Our results suggest that posturographic tests can be used to assess and confirm human body imbalancein subjects with whiplash injury. Further studies with more subjects from both sexes are necessary to confirm this pilot study. ReferencesEndo K, Suzuki H, Yamamoto K: Consciously postural sway and cervical vertigo after whiplash injury. Spine. 2008, 33(16):E539-42.Pomara F, Bianco A, Petrucci M, Vaccarino F, Bellafiore M, Battaglia G, Palma A: Whiplash injure and human body balance: a forceplatform analysis. Minerva Medicolegale 2010 Marzo;130(1):1-5. Sjostrom H, Allum JH, Carpenter MG, et al: Trunk sway measures ofpostural stability during clinical balance tests in patients with chronic whiplash injury symptoms. Spine 2003, 28:1725-34.