Isokinetic strength of the neck muscles

Abstract

The variety of measurement devices and protocols being used to assess neck muscle strength hampers the comparison of data and the generation of reference data. Little is known about dynamic neck muscle strength because a limited amount of research using isokinetic dynamometry as assessment method has been published. The purpose of the research on which this article is based was therefore to delineate and generat e reference data for the dynamic isokinetic neck muscle strength of adults aged 19 to 69 years old, based on a purpose-built isokinetic measurement device. Measurements were made through the frontal and sagittal planes of movement. Furthermore, the data, categorised into ten gender discriminate age categories of ten years each, were statistically analysed to detect signi ficant differences between the categories. Four hundred and fifty-two volunteers, consisting of 221 males and 231 females, were assessed. Reference data stratified according to the gender di scriminate age categories and based on 95% confidence intervals were gen erated. Statistical analyses however indicated that signi ficant differences were predominantly between males and females, irrespective of age. This justifies the use of reference data grouped according to gender and questions whether age should be considered as a stratification factor when generating neck muscl e strength reference data.