Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The effects of neutral positioning with and without padding on spinal immobilization of healthy subjects.
To compare the incidences and severities of pain experienced by healthy volunteers undergoing spinal immobilization in the neutral position with and without occipital padding. To compare the incidence of pain when immobilized in the neutral position with the incidence in a nonneutral position. ⋯ Pain is frequently reported by healthy volunteers following spinal immobilization. Occipital padding does not appear to significantly decrease the incidence or severity of pain. Alignment of the cervical spine in the neutral position may reduce the incidence of pain, but further studies should be conducted to substantiate this observation.