Movement behaviour in patients with chronic neck pain.

Background And Purpose: The present study evaluated whether patients with chronic neck pain demonstrate characteristic angular movement deviations during repeated cervical spine movements.

Method: Sixteen patients with chronic neck pain and a group of 18 aged-matched healthy control subjects performed 10 repetitive maximal cervical movement cycles (flexion/extension, rotation, lateral flexion) at a self-determined velocity. To collect the kinematic data of the cervical spine, a three-dimensional ultrasonic movement analysis system (Zebris CMS70, Germany) was used.