Journal of the Australian Chiropractic Association 1988 Jun; 18(2): 51-4
ABSTRACT: The plain radiographs of the cervical spine of two hundred adult who had consulted a chiropractor were reviewed and examined for signs of degenerative joint disease. In addition, the location of greatest stress and strain was determined on each neutrallateral cervical radiograph using a previously described method. Forty percent of the cervical spine radiographic series had evidence of degenerative joint disease. The degenerative joint disease was most commonly found at the C5-C6 motion unit. The location of greatest stress and strain was most commonly found at the C4 vertebral body. Its location on radiographs with degenerative joint disease was not significantly different(p>0.05) from its location on those radiographs without degenerative joint disease. Analysis of scaled deviance indicated that the location of degenerative joint disease and location of greatest stress and strain were unrelated. There was no apparent difference in the prevalence of degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine of subjects presenting to the chiropractor compared with a previous study of asymptomatic subjects who had no history of cervical spine trauma, pathology or pain.