Impact of Active Leisure (Noncompetitive) Contact Sports Activities on the Space Available for the Cord of the Subaxial Cervical Spine of Asymptomatic Adults.

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Leisure sports activities are assumed to be safe. It is however possible that participation in contact sports as leisure activity may also affect the space available for the cervical cord (SAC). The objective of this study is to compare the SAC of asymptomatic young adults involved in active leisure contact sports with matched controls that do not participate in contact sports. This magnetic resonance imaging-based prospective, cross-sectional study involved 204 randomly selected asymptomatic adults, 21-50 years of age. The study included 2 groups: group A (participants in active leisure contact sports) and group B (participants who did not participate in any form of contact sport). The SAC was calculated by subtracting disk-level midsagittal spinal canal dimension from the corresponding level spinal cord dimension. The SAC at C3-4 was 4.5 ± 1.1 mm (group A) and 4.9 ± 1.4 mm (group B) (P= 0.025), at C4-5 was 4.3 ±1.1 mm (group A) and 4.5 ± 1.2 mm (group B), at C5-6 was 4.6 ± 1.1 mm (group A) and 4.5 ± 1.4 mm (group B), at C6-7 was 5.2 ± 1.3 mm (group A) and 4.9 ± 1.2 mm (group B), at C7-T1 was 5.6 ± 1.3 mm (group A) and 5.6 ± 1.5 mm (group B) (P= 0.004). In men, the SAC at C3-4 was 4.39 ± 0.28 mm (group A) and 4.90 ± 0.30 mm (group B) (P= 0.036) and at C4-5 was 4.16 ± 0.27 mm (group A) and 4.56 ± 0.35 mm (group B). Three-way multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant effect of contact sports (P= 0.005), sex (P= 0.001), and age (P= 0.0001) on the SAC. Combined effect of contact sports participation and age also have significant effects on the SAC (P= 0.035). Participation in leisure contact sports has a small but overall negative effect on the SAC, especially at the upper subaxial cervical spine levels. This effect is most marked after the age of 40 years. Overall, there was no sex difference observed.