Test: Cervical Flexion

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Background/Purpose

Active cervical range of motion is one of the first steps in the physical evaluation of a patient with neck complaints. Active motions are followed by passive and then resisted motions.
The clinician should be assessing the subject's willingness to move as well as the smoothness and any differences that may exist from side to side.
Spinal range of motion involves multiple segments (C1-C7).
When performing cervical motion testing, the painful motions should be done last.
Forty degrees or less of retained cervical flexion is an impairment of neck function for activities of daily living. When testing active cervical flexion it is important to remember that the since the motion is following gravity, the posterior neck muscles are working eccentrically (engaging and lengthening) and the muscles whose actions involve cervical flexion are actually doing little work. It may also be helpful to consider the full arc of motion from flexion to extension since some subjects may already be in a resting position of relative flexion which would appear to be a reduction even though they achieve the full range of motion (chin to chest). This result may also correlate with an apparent increase in cervical extension measures.

Procedure

Subject is seated or standing with their head in the upright position. The subject is instructed to tuck the chin toward the chest. The chin should generally be able to reach the chest with the mouth closed or up to two finger widths distance.
Performed: Bilaterally

Dialog

Cervical flexion - active.

Criteria

• Full range of motion.

Measurement

LOINC Code

0

Scale/Grading

Pass/Fail