INTRODUCTION: the thoracic kyphosis treatment is based on measuring the magnitude of the curve based on radiographic measurements, and provide the correct balance for the surgical correction of sagittal spinal deformity is very important. OBJECTIVE: a prospective radiographic analysis of the effect of the variation in arm position on measuring thoracic kyphosis and sagittal balance in patients of a pre-established age. METHODS: lateral radiographs of the spine were performed by two positional METHODS: position 1, in which the patient was standing, with the knees close together, feet aligned with shoulders, head looking straight forward, arms extended at 90º in relation to the stem, keeping the arms stretched and parallel to the floor; a second radiograph showed the patient standing with knees together, feet aligned with shoulders, head looking straight forward, with the elbows flexed and the fingers resting on the supraclavicular fossa bilaterally. The arms should form an angle of about 45º with the body. We measured the Cobb angles and the sagittal balance in the two radiographs. RESULTS: there was no correlation between the position of the arms and the values of the Cobb angle and the sagittal balance. CONCLUSION: in our study, we observed that the position of the arms (90º versus 45º) statistically does not interfere in the value of thoracic kyphosis and the variation of sagittal balance.
Kyphosis; X-Rays; Patient positioning; Spine
