Three-dimensional relation of skin markers to lumbar vertebrae of healthy subjects in different postures measured by open MRI

Falk Mörl, Reinhard Blickhan

July 2005, Volume 15, Issue 6, pp 742 - 751 Original Article Read Full Article

First Online: 27 July 2005

The debate is to which extent external skin markers represent true underlying vertebral position and motion. Skin markers and lumbar vertebrae L3 and L4 were examined by vertically open magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within different postures to investigate whether, and to which extent the position and orientation of skin markers represent the corresponding information of assigned underlying vertebra. Nine healthy volunteers sat within an open MRI scanner in five different seating postures: upright, low flexion, heavy flexion, upright left turn and upright right turn. Skin markers were fixed at lumbar levels L3 and L4. A set of landmarks defines corresponding positions on the vertebrae. Translation-vectors quantify the change of co-ordinates while changing position. Orientation (Cardan-angles) of each level in space was calculated from co-ordinates of three skin-markers and the corresponding vertebral landmarks respectively. The close relation between the position of the individual skin marker and its corresponding landmark on the vertebrae is conserved through all postures (regression coefficients: 0.720

Read Full Article