경항통과 척추 시상균형 및 만곡의 상관관계에 대한 임상적 연구

Objectives: The authors aimed to determine the presence of relationships between cervical pain and cervical curvature, lumbar curvature, sacral slope and sagittal spinal balance. Methods: Medical records of outpatients who made their first visits to the Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in the Spine center at Kyung Hee East-West Neo Medical Center between September 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009 were evaluated. A total of 50 patients visiting within the time period had visited with a chief complaint of cervical pain, and had lateral entire spine X-rays taken. After excluding patients with previous spine operations, 46 patients were selected for the final analysis. The cervical lordotic angle(CLA), lumbar lordotic angle(LLA), Ferguson`s angle(FA), and sagittal vertical axis(SVA) were measured on the lateral entire spine X-ray cuts, and the relationships between these values and patient gender, age, chief complaint, and duration of symptoms were assessed. Results: No significant difference was found in relationships between gender and measured values. SVA showed statistically significant correlation between age, but CLA, LLA, and FA was not. There was a significant difference in SVA between patients with only cervical pain and those with both cervical pain and low back pain. Patients with a duration of symptoms longer than 6 months showed a statistically significant difference in SVA with those who had shorter symptoms. Correlation analysis between measured values was statistically significant only between LLA and FA. Conclusions: Evaluation and treatment of sagittal imbalance should be considered in patients presenting with cervical pain if symptoms have persisted for over 6 months or have accompanying low back pain.