Adaptation and validation of a pediatric simulator to study the movement of the cervical spine

Abstract

This study focused on adapting and evaluating the reliability of a pediatric simulator to assess the mobility of the spinal cord in its cervical segment. A comparative analysis was conducted on cervical mobility of 4 adapted pediatric simulators followed by a reliability study of the simulator that demonstrated ideal mobility characteristics. The simulator with the type of movement that was most similar to real-life physiological movement was Simulator 1, with degrees of movement of: flexion 30 degrees +/- 4 degrees, extension 43 degrees +/- 2 degrees, left lateral movement 30 degrees +/- 2 degrees, right lateral movement 32 degrees +/- 3 degrees, left rotation 27 degrees +/- 2 degrees, and right rotation 25 degrees +/- 2 degrees. The reliability of this simulator was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient, with a high reliability result. The results according to the axes were as follows: flexion-extension movement (0.937; p < 0.001), left-right lateral movement (0.893; p < 0.006), and left-right rotation (0.845; p = 0.006). Consequently, the pediatric simulator that we have adapted, allows us to determine the movement of the spinal cord in its cervical segment, with a very good degree of reliability.