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Cited by 342Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal DisordersScoliosis diagnosis and treatmentShoulder Injury and Treatment

Head and shoulder posture variations in 160 asymptomatic women and men

Raine, Sally, Twomey, Lance T.·1997·Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
DOI 10.1016/s0003-9993(97)90335-x
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Abstract

Objective To quantitatively describe the postural alignment of the head and shoulders and the surface curvature of the thoracic spine in comfortable erect standing and to examine the effect of age and gender on head and shoulder alignment. Design Descriptive survey. Setting Gait research laboratory. Participants One hundred sixty asymptomatic volunteers aged between 17 and 83 years. Main outcome measures Five photographic measurements of head and shoulder posture in the coronal and sagittal planes and a photographic measurement of the surface curvature of the thoracic spine in the sagittal plane. Results Mean values of coronal head tilt, coronal shoulder angle, sagittal head tilt, sagittal C7-tragus angle, and sagittal shoulder-C7 angle were 180.1 degrees, 181 degrees, 172.1 degrees, 131.1 degrees, and 53.7 degrees, respectively. The 95% confidence intervals for the means ranged between 1 degree and 3.8 degrees. For each of the head and shoulder measurements there was no significant gender difference (p = .33 to .99). Of the five measurements, only sagittal C7-tragus angle was significantly correlated with age (r = .44), and none was correlated with surface curvature of the thoracic spine. Conclusions Head and shoulder posture was similar between genders. Only one postural description that has been described anecdotally was identified, i.e., that age was related to the position of the head with respect to the trunk in the sagittal plane, although the strength of the association was of questionable clinical significance. In contrast, other longstanding assumptions were not supported, and accordingly, a forward head was not associated with increased thoracic curvature or upper cervical spine extension.

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Authors
Raine, S., & Twomey, L. T.
Affiliations
Curtin University (AU)
Corresponding author
Raine, Sally
Venue
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1997-11
Volume
78
Issue
11
Pages
1215-1223
ISSN
0003-9993 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/s0003-9993(97)90335-x
OpenAlex
W2013638655
Cited by
342
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 17
FWCI
2.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Scoliosis diagnosis and treatment
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Shoulder Injury and Treatment
Keywords
head posture, shoulder posture, postural alignment, age effects, gender differences, forward head posture, asymptomatic adults
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Analysis of Variance, Female, Head, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Middle Aged, Photography, Posture, Reference Values, Sex Characteristics, Shoulder, Surface Properties, Thoracic Vertebrae, Reproducibility of Results, Confidence Intervals

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