A web based version of the cervical joint position error test: Reliability of measurements from face tracking software

Abstract

The cervical joint position error test is a method to assess proprioception. This test is particularly relevant for people with neck pain and whiplash associated disorder, and it is of potential interest for people with neurological disorders. In clinical practice, patients are asked to move their head and match the original position while wearing a laser pointer on their head. The error is measured manually as the distance between the projection of the laser on a target before and after neck movement. We developed a web page which delivers this test while measuring the position of the head with a head tracking software. We tested the reliability of our application, using our software simultaneously to the laser method on 14 healthy volunteers. Our results show good correlation (r = 0.83, 0.69 and 0.68 after extension, right and left rotation, respectively, all with, p < 0.001) and limits of agreement (±2.64 cm) between the two methods, suggesting that our application can be used for measuring the joint position sense error.