Impairment of timed up and go components in elderly with chronic neck pain

Abstract

Elderly patients with chronic neck pain (CNP) showed impaired dynamic balance as indicated by longer duration during the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. The TUG contains several components including sit-to-stand (STS), walk, turn, turn-to-sit (TTS), but it is unclear which component of TUG was markedly impaired among elderly patients with chronic neck pain (CNP). This study aimed to identify which component of the Timed Up and Go test was impaired in elderly patients with CNP as compared with those without neck pain. This cross-sectional study compared the duration used to complete the TUG task between 15 healthy elderly patients, aged 64.57 ± 4.03 years and 15 elderly patients with CNP, aged 64.00 ± 4.05 years. Each TUG component was identified using inertial sensors attached to the body. The elderly patients with CNP were classified further into mild and moderate disability categories, using the Neck Disability Index. The duration of STS, TTS, and total TUG were significantly longer in CNP with mild disabilities (p <0.05). CNP with moderate disability showed larger peak angular trunk velocity in all TUG components than the healthy with CNP with mild CNP. The STS and TTS components of the TUG test were markedly impaired among elderly patients with chronic neck pain. These impairments can reflect the longer duration of STS and TTS components or a larger peak angular trunk velocity.

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