Neck Collar Assessment for People Living With Motor Neuron Disease: Are Current Outcome Measures Suitable?

A majority of people living with motor neuron disease (MND) experience weakness of the neck and as a result, experience head drop. This exacerbates problems with everyday activities (eating, talking, breathing, etc). Neck collars are often used to support head drop; however, these are typ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Samuel D J Spears, Yusuf F Abdulle, Dionisios Korovilas, Ryo Torii, Deepak M Kalaskar, Nikhil Sharma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2023-03-01
Series:Interactive Journal of Medical Research
Online Access:https://www.i-jmr.org/2023/1/e43274
Description
Summary:A majority of people living with motor neuron disease (MND) experience weakness of the neck and as a result, experience head drop. This exacerbates problems with everyday activities (eating, talking, breathing, etc). Neck collars are often used to support head drop; however, these are typically designed for prehospitalization settings to manage and brace the cervical region of the spine. As a result, it has been recorded that people living with MND often reject these collars for a variety of reasons but most notably because they are too restricting. The current standardized outcome measures (most notably restricting cervical range of motion) used for neck collars are summarized herein along with whether they are suitable for a bespoke neck collar specifically designed for people living with MND.
ISSN:1929-073X