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Research on immobilizing patients’ spines is pretty difficult to do, since the board-and-collar method was adapted as a standard of care before anyone determined whether it actually works.  One group presenting an abstract at ICEM has found a unique way to study the technique:  motion capture like that used in Hollywood.

Three subjects wore motion capture markers on the head, neck, and trunk, and were extricated from a mock car.  The motion capture system assessed neck movement during each of four scenarios:  patient getting out of the car unassisted to the cot (no backboard, but done with and without a C-collar), standard rapid extrication to a board, or extrication with KED to a board.

Care to guess which group had the least movement?

The group that was collared, then allowed to walk to a stretcher had the least C-spine movement by far, with a peak movement of 6.8 degrees.  Coming in second place was rapid extrication at 26.6 degrees–about 3 times as much movement.

It turns out that those providers we all thought were lazy may have been almost onto something.  Of course, I’d always felt that if you’re going to walk the patient, there’s no sense in putting them on a board; maybe that will end up being the wisest course of all.