# CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS OF CERVICAL SPINE

> **NIH NIH R01** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 1988 · $193,251

## Abstract

Trauma, rheumatoid arthritis, and degeneration are the major
problems in the upper cervical spine (occiput-C1-C2 joint complex).
They result in pain, deformity and neurological dysfunction.  An
important and clinically recognized entity is spinal instability.
It relates the major problems of the spine to the clinical results.
Given an unsable spine, due to trauma, arrthritis, or deeneration
etc., surgical reconstruction is used to stabilized the unsable
spine.  Several questions remain unanswered.

What constitutes instability in the upper cervical spine?  What are
the different types of instabilities and their measurements?  What
are the mechanisms of injuries in this region?  What roles doe each
of the spinal ligaments play in providing stability?  What type and
magnitude of instability leads to vertebral artery insufficiency?
What are the normal anatomic relationship between vertebrae, nerve
roots, the spinal cord and vertebral artery?  Given an unstable
upper cervical spine, what are the relative advantages and
disadvantages of different surgical procedures?

It is hypothesized that an integrated set of studies, which applies
modern methods of biomechanical investigation, is needed to address
the above clinical and basic science questions.  The proposal,
which consists of five studies, provides a comprehensive approach
to the study of the upper cervical spine.  For this region, we
propose to determine, using fresh human cadavers and cadaveric
specimens, the following:  (1) Anatomy.  Detaialed and quantified
three-dimensional anatomy, using computer graphics; computer
graphics (2) Biomechanics.  Normal three-dimensional movements
andphysical properties; (3) Instability.  Determination of
Instability thresholds and the role od ligaments in stability; (4)
Trauma.  High speed trauma and mechanisms of injury; (5) Surgery.
Surgical reconstruction of unstable injured and traumatized spines.

The proposed work has clinical sugnificance in several areas.  For
the first time, spatial relationships between vertebrae, ligaments,
spinal cord, nerve roots and vertebral arteries will be quantified
and visually displayed, thereby providing a more thorough
understanding of the way in which this joint complex functions.
The biomechanical and instability studies will document normal and
abnormal motions of the upper cervical spine, which will help
determine the instability thresholds for clinical use.
Experimental trauma will determined mechanisms of common injuries:
dislocations, fractures and whiplash, again helping to provide an
understanding of spinal injuries, which may lead to improved
treatment methods.  Finally, biomechanical evaluations of presently
available surgical procedures for stabilizing injured and arthritic
spines will lead to recommendations for improvements of present-
day methods, as well as to the development of new surgical
procedures.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3155776
- **Project number:** 2R01AR030361-07
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** FL6GV84CKN57
- **Principal Investigator:** MANOHAR M PANJABI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1988
- **Award amount:** $193,251
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1982-02-01 → 1991-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3155776

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3155776, CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS OF CERVICAL SPINE (2R01AR030361-07). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-24 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3155776. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*