The biomechanical implications of neck position in cervical contusion animal models of SCI

This review explores how head and neck positioning in animal models of cervical spinal cord injury impacts the biomechanics of the injury and the resulting outcomes. It suggests that neck position could be a hidden factor contributing to variability in study results. The study reviews existing literature and finds evidence that animal head/neck positioning affects the exposed level of the spinal cord, morphology of the spinal cord, tissue mechanics, and the biomechanics of a cervical spinal cord injury. The study concludes that neck positioning is an important factor in studying biomechanics and that reporting these values can improve inter-study consistency and comparability in cervical spinal cord contusion injury models.

• 1
  Neck position affects the exposed spinal level during contusion injuries, potentially causing variability in observed functional outcomes due to differences in the precise neurological level of injury.
• 2
  Neck position influences the morphology of the spinal cord within the canal, which can affect the distribution of tissue damage across the cord during a contusion injury.
• 3
  Neck position alters the mechanical properties of the constituent spinal tissues, which can affect the resulting distribution of damage within the gray and white matters of the cord.