Biomechanical analysis of cervical spine sagittal stiffness characteristics

The orientation of the loading, along which the minimum and maximum displacements occur, can be described as the principal axis. This work presents a model to determine extremums of the compliance of the cervical spine and corresponding principal axis, given the pose and flexibility of each functional cervical unit. As the cervical model of C(2)-C(7) section is flexed, it becomes tensionally stiffer and as the structure is extended, it becomes compressively stiffer. The opposite is true for the model including the atlanto-occipito-axial complex suggesting a compressively stiffer column as it is flexed and a tensionally stiffer structure as it is extended.