Cervical Spine Alignment in the Immobilized Football Player Radiographic Analysis Before and After Helmet Removal*

We investigated the effect of football helmet removal on the sagittal alignment of the cervical spine. A quan-titative radiographic assessment of relative cervical spine position in subjects immobilized to a standard backboard wearing shoulder pads either with or with-out a helmet was performed. Comparison was made to a control situation with subjects on a backboard wear-ing no equipment. Ten subjects were studied using lateral computed tomographic scout films; each subject served as his own control. Radiographs were meas-ured for overall sagittal cervical alignment and the amount of lordosis or kyphosis present within specific segments of the cervical spine. Mean values for each of the three defined situations (no equipment, shoulde