Normal Craniovertebral Angle Variations According to Age and Sex in 7-9 Years-Old Children

Abstract

Background: Craniovertebral angle (CVA) is one of the reliable and objective methods of assessing head posture which provide useful information about the head posture alignment. Objectives: To quantitatively describe the postural alignment of upright, static, sagittal head posture in children aged between 7 to 9 years old and to study and compare the effect of age and sex on head posture. Subjects and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 200 children of both sexes aged between 7 to 9 years recruited from primary schools in Riyadh. The children were equally divided into two groups, group I (7 to < 8 years) and group II (8 to ≤ 9 years). The children were photographed while maintaining the upright static natural position with digital camera. Digitizing soft ware was used to calculate the CVA value for each child. Descriptive statistic, independent samples t-test, and Two ways Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with two factors (sex and age) were used to detect any possible influence of age and sex on CVA. Results: The results revealed non significant effect of age on CVA (P=0.77), while there was high statistical significant effect of sex on CVA (P=0.001). Significant effect of sex and age interaction on CVA (p= .003) was approved. Conclusion: This study outlined the CVA variations according to age and sex in 7 to 9 years children. The CVA values determined by this research may serve as guidelines for clinicians when conducting postural assessments, and in clinical decision making regarding possible interventions. Key words: Head posture, Craniovertebral angle, Children, Age, Sex.