A comfort assessment of existing cervical orthoses

Abstract

Purpose: Identify location and intensity of discomfort experienced by healthy participants wearing cervical orthoses.

Method: Convenience sample of 34 healthy participants wore Stro II, Philadelphia, Headmaster, and AspenVista^® cervical orthoses for four-hour periods. Participants reported discomfort level (scale 0–6) and location.

Results: Participants reported mean discomfort for all orthoses over the four-hour test between ‘a little discomfort’ and ‘very uncomfortable’ (mean discomfort score = 1.64, SD = 1.50). Seven participants prematurely stopped tests due to pain and six reported maximum discomfort scores. Significant linear increase in discomfort with duration of wear was found for all orthoses. Significantly less discomfort was reported with Stro II than Headmaster and Philadelphia. Age correlated with greater perceived discomfort. Orthoses differed in the location discomfort was experienced.

Conclusion: Existing cervical orthoses cause discomfort influenced by design and duration of wear with orthoses’ design the more significant factor. This work informed the design of a new orthosis and future orthoses developments.

Practitioner Summary: The purpose of this study was to gain greater knowledge about the discomfort caused by wearing of existing neck orthoses in order to inform the design and development of a new neck orthosis. This study gathers empirical data from a surrogate population and concludes that orthosis design is more influential than the duration of wear.

Keywords:

• Comfort assessment
• neck collar
• neck support
• Motor Neurone Disease
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• neck weakness
• assistive technology
• Head-up

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank them for their support. We would like to thank all the participants without whom this work would not have been possible. We would like to thank all the project team members who did not contribute directly to this research or paper but without whom this work would not have been possible: Zoe Clarke (Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust), Gill Squire (Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield), Ann Quinn (9South Yorkshire Motor Neurone Disease Association), Oliver Wells (National Institute for Health Research Devices for Dignity Healthcare Technology Cooperative, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) and Wendy Tindale (National Institute for Health Research Devices for Dignity Healthcare Technology Cooperative, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust).