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Reliability and Validity of a Mobile Device for Assessing Head Control Ability

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Abstract

Purpose

Head control ability assessed by the cervicocephalic kinesthetic sensibility test has been widely used as an important indicator for the diagnosis or treatment of cervical disorders. However, a reliable and handy device to measure head control has not been developed. This study aimed to compare the capability to quantify the cervicocephalic kinesthetic sensibility between an ultrasound-based motion capture system and an inertial measurement unit-based (IMU-based) mobile device with the ultimate goal of developing a clinically-useful assessment tool.

Methods

Thirty-five young healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. The subjects were asked to perform the clinical cervicocephalic kinesthetic sensibility test in a head-to-neutral reposition procedure. The maximal range of motion and the reposition test in the cervical flexion, extension, right rotation, and left rotation directions were analyzed. After 5–7 days, the experimental procedure was repeated for the between-day retest measurement.

Results

No significant differences in cervical maximal range of motion and head reposition errors between the two devices were found. The intra-rater reliability of both ranged from good to excellent for the within-day and between-day measurements. The correlation between the two devices was also high, with r-values higher than 0.7 in all movement directions.

Conclusions

The IMU-based mobile device shows the potential to be a reliable and feasible head assessment device. Further study is warranted to extend its applications for clinical examination.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (107-2221-E-182-018-MY3), the Healthy Aging Research Center (EMRPD1H0391 and EMRPD1H0551), and the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Research Program (CRRPG3H0062 and CMRPD1J0151).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Nikkhoo

  2. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Chi-Chien Niu

  3. Bone and Joint Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Chi-Chien Niu, Chen-Ju Fu, Meng-Ling Lu, Wen-Chien Chen & Chih-Hsiu Cheng

  4. Division of Emergency and Critical Care Radiology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Chen-Ju Fu

  5. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Meng-Ling Lu

  6. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Wen-Chien Chen

  7. School of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Yang-Hua Lin & Chih-Hsiu Cheng

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  1. Mohammad Nikkhoo
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Correspondence to Chih-Hsiu Cheng.

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Nikkhoo, M., Niu, CC., Fu, CJ. et al. Reliability and Validity of a Mobile Device for Assessing Head Control Ability. J. Med. Biol. Eng. 41, 45–52 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40846-020-00577-w

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