Ocular pursuit test with the neck turned, a study in whiplash patients

Authors

MSc MD PhD Torbjorn Ledin (Linköping, Sweden)
Prof. Dr. med. L M Ödkvist (Linköping, Sweden)
Dr. med. L Noaksson (Linköping, Sweden)
Dr. med. S Olsson (Linköping, Sweden)
Dr. med. P Greibe (Linköping, Sweden)

Proceedings

XXX Congress of the NES - Oporto - Portugal

Topics

Neurootology
Neurology
Diseases
Neurootology
Equilibrium
Diseases
Neurootology
Equilibrium
Equilibriometric tests
Neurootology
Equilibrium
Neurootology
Neurology
Neurootology

Keywords

Brainstem dysfunction, Neck lesions, Ocular pursuit, Whiplash Injury.

Abstract

Whiplash accidents may cause disturbances to the neck and/or CNS, primarily the brainstem. Neurootological findings are frequent. Posture is disturbed when the neck is held in a provocative position. Tjell et al have reported very high frequency of disturbances in the ocular pursuit tested with the neck turned.
We tested 34 whiplash patients and 20 healthy volunteers with broad-frequency ocular pursuit, using frequencys 0.5 – 2.5 Hz and maximun target speeds of 20 resp 40 degrees per second. The positions were facing the surface with the moving target and the body turned 45 degrees to the right resp. left, the face not turned away from the target.
The normals did not diminish their pursuit gain, but the patient group had their gain diminished significantly in the head turned test.
It may be discussed if this disturbance is caused by neck lesions and/or brainstem dysfunction.