Alterated head stabilization control during walking in whiplash

Authors

Dr. med. Dario Alpini (Milan, Italy)
dott. Ing. Giuseppe Luigi Ciavarro (Milan, Italy)
Dott. Ing. Prof. Giorgio Carlo Santanbrogio (Milan, Italy)
Dott. Ing. Giuseppe Andreoni (Milan, Italy)
Dr. Ing M Zaccheddu (Milan, Italy)
Dr. Ing. M. Nozza (Milan, Italy)

Proceedings

ASN - Volume 5 - 2007

Topics

Neurootology
Equilibrium
Equilibriometric tests
Neurootology
Equilibrium
Neurootology

Keywords

DCCG, Head stabilization, Stepping test, Vestibular system, Whiplash Injury.

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Abstract

Vestibular system is primarily dedicated in keeping balance and field of view stable. However many pathologies, especially whiplash injuries, frequently reduce vestibular control with social and economical relevance.
Many clinical and instrumental tests are used to analyze posture and gait improving the diagnosis of vestibular disorders. Among instrumental tests, CranioCorpoGraphy (CCG) is an efficient test to screen equilibrium functions, even if it is mostly based on qualitative information.
Here a 3D digital CranioCorpoGraphy is showed: it assesses the 3D movements and rotations of head and trunk rigid bodies, giving an exhaustive clinical information.
23 healthy and 10 whiplash subjects were asked to perform a stepping test on a foam, with closed eyes and the arms behind the back. Furthermore the frequency of the step was decided by the subject himself and the duration of the test was standardized at 35 seconds or 60 steps. The results show statistically significant differences between whiplash and healthy subjects (i.e. Instability parameter of whiplash people increases of at least 65% with respect to healthy people). These differences allow to develop a coefficient of performance (able to summarize the global performance of the test executed by the subjects) which well discriminates whiplash from healthy subjects.