Methods for determining spine instability and for eliminating the impact of patient effort on stability determinations

摘要

The present disclosure describes a method for determining spinal instability, more particularly, a method for quantifying the type and extent of spinal instability in a standardized way. The disclosure also describes a method comprising measurement of the intervertebral rotation and intervertebral translation between a vertebrae pair using simple images, and from these measurements, determining if one or more vertebrae pair of the spine is unstable. Finally, the disclosure describes software that may be used to quantify the type and extent of spinal instability.

主权项

1. A method for detecting injuries or structural degeneration of the disc, facet joints or intervertebral ligaments of the spine comprising:
obtaining an x-ray image of a first and a second vertebrae in a flexed position; obtaining an x-ray image of a first and second vertebrae in an extended position; aligning the first vertebrae and determining the rotation and translation required to align the second vertebrae; measuring the change in disc height between the flexed positon and extended position; and dividing the change in disc height by the rotation to give spinal displacement per degree of rotation (DPDR).