World Spine Day - 16 October

October 16th is World Spine Day - a useful reminder that spinal health is about more than an X-ray or a pain score.

The cervical spine, in particular, contains a rich source of proprioceptive information: sensory information that helps the brain estimate where the head and neck are in space. Cervical sensorimotor control depends on the integration of visual, vestibular and somatosensory information, and research suggests that some people with neck pain - particularly those with dizziness - show differences in joint-position sense, oculomotor performance and postural sway.[1,2]

At Coelevate, that means we can look beyond the question

“Where does it hurt?”

and ask

“Is there a measurable functional problem that matters to this patient?”

Where clinically indicated, assessment may include:

• Cervical joint-position-sense (JPS) testing using laser-guided targets to measure how accurately the head returns to a starting position after movement

• BTrackS force-plate testing to objectively measure postural sway and explore balance under different sensory conditions

• Vestibular and oculomotor assessment when dizziness, visual motion sensitivity or disequilibrium accompanies the neck presentation

• Movement, strength and functional measures where pain is affecting confidence or physical capacity

If a meaningful deficit is identified, rehabilitation can be targeted to that finding - for example, cervical repositioning practice, gaze or vestibular exercises, balance retraining, or appropriately graded movement. We reassess the measures that mattered at baseline rather than assuming that less pain automatically means normal function.

Importantly, not every person with neck pain has a proprioceptive or balance deficit, and JPS testing is not a stand-alone diagnosis. A 2024 systematic review found cervical joint-position-error testing showed sufficient reliability and validity overall, but the certainty of evidence for many measurement properties remains low.[1]

World Spine Day is a good opportunity to celebrate movement - and to measure function when function is the problem.

Sources / evidence notes

1. AlDahas A, Heneghan NR, Althobaiti S, et al. Measurement properties of cervical joint position error in people with and without neck pain: a systematic review and narrative

synthesis. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2024;25:44. doi:10.1186/s12891-023-07111-4. PMID: 38200520.

2. Sensorimotor tests in patients with neck pain and its associated disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sci Rep. 2024. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-63545-3.

3. Quodling N, Hoffman N, Carrick FR, Jemni M. Sensory processing in medically unexplained pain syndrome: a systematic review. Front Pain Res. 2025;6:1584227. doi:10.3389/fpain.2025.1584227. PMID: 40547875.