On Cervical Mobility.

The work described here was prompted by our interest in the pathogenesis of spontaneous cervical subluxation in rheumatoid arthritis. Anatomical studies of rheumatoid cervical spines (Ball, 1958) had revealed destructive inflammatory lesions in the disks and posterior spinal joints, but not in the ligamenta flava; segmental ankylosis, erosion of certain ligamentous attachments, and disk degeneration were also encountered. Before attempting a pathogenetic synthesis of these various morphological findings, it seemed desirable to investigate the distribution of mobility in the cervical spine, secondly, the role of the above-mentioned structures in the control of movement, and, thirdly, the effect on mobility of disk degeneration and segnental immobilization.