Article

Spinal posture affects how individuals function from a manual wheelchair. There
is a need to directly quantify spinal posture in this population to ultimately
improve function. A fiber optic system, comprised of an attached series of
sensors, is promising for measuring large regions of the spine in individuals
sitting in a wheelchair. The purpose of this study was to determine the agreement
between fiber optic and optoelectronic systems for measuring spinal curvature,
and describe the range of sagittal plane spinal curvatures in natural sitting.
Able-bodied adults (n = 26, 13 male) participated. Each participant assumed three
sitting postures: natural, slouched (accentuated kyphosis), and extension
(accentuated lordosis) sitting. Fiber optic (ShapeTape) and optoelectronic
(Optotrak) systems were applied to the skin over spinous processes from S1 to C7
and used to measure sagittal plane spinal curvature. Regions of kyphosis and
lordosis were identified. A Cobb angle-like method was used to quantify lordosis
and kyphosis. Generalized linear model and Bland-Altman analyses were used to
assess agreement. A strong correlation exists between curvature values obtained
with Optotrak and ShapeTape (R(2) = 0.98). The mean difference between Optotrak
and ShapeTape for kyphosis in natural, extension, and slouched postures was 4.30
degrees (95% LOA: -3.43 to 12.04 degrees ), 3.64 degrees (95% LOA: -1.07 to 8.36
degrees ), and 4.02 degrees (95% LOA: -2.80 to 10.84 degrees ), respectively. The
mean difference for lordosis, when present, in natural and extension postures was
2.86 degrees (95% LOA: -1.18 to 6.90 degrees ) and 2.55 degrees (95% LOA: -3.38
to 8.48 degrees ), respectively. In natural sitting, the mean +/- SD of kyphosis
values was 35.07 +/- 6.75 degrees . Lordosis was detected in 8/26 participants:
11.72 +/- 7.32 degrees . The fiber optic and optoelectronic systems demonstrate
acceptable agreement for measuring sagittal plane thoracolumbar spinal curvature.
CI - Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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