title: Head and cervical posture in patients with temporomandibular disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether patients with myogenous or mixed (ie, myogeneous plus arthrogeneous) temporomandibular disorders (TMD) had different head and cervical posture measured through angles commonly used in clinical research settings when compared to healthy individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred fifty-four persons participated in this study. Of these, 50 subjects were healthy, 55 subjects had myogenous TMD, and 49 subjects had mixed TMD (ie, arthrogenous plus myogenous TMD). A lateral photograph was taken with the head in the self-balanced position. Four angles were measured in the photographs: (1) Eye-Tragus-Horizontal, (2) Tragus-C7-Horizontal, (3) Pogonion-Tragus-C7, and (4) Tragus-C7-Shoulder. Alcimagen software specially designed to measure angles was used in this study. All of the measurements were performed by a single trained rater, a dental specialist in orthodontics, blinded to each subject's group status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The only angle that reached statistical significance among groups was the Eye-Tragus-Horizontal (F = 3.03, P = .040). Pairwise comparisons determined that a mean difference of 3.3 degrees (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.15, 6.41) existed when comparing subjects with myogenous TMD and healthy subjects (P = .036). Postural angles were not significantly related to neck disability, jaw disability, or pain intensity. Intrarater and interrater reliability of the measurements were excellent, with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values ranging between 0.996-0.998.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The only statistically significant difference in craniocervical posture between patients with myogenous TMD and healthy subjects was for the Eye-Tragus-Horizontal angle, indicating a more extended position of the head. However, the difference was very small (3.3 degrees) and was judged not to be clinically significant.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, Alberta Research Center for Health Evidence, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. sla4@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Armijo-Olivo
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rappoport
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuentes
authors.forename: Inae Caroline
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Gadotti
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Major
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.forename: Norman M R
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Thie
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Magee
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013706:Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult