| Objective: The object of the study is to quantify the incidence and magnitude of structural asymmetry of the sacral base, involving absolute and relative sacral obliquity, measured on erect spinal radiographs taken in a clinical setting. Methods: Retrospective analysis of specifically taken erect A-P radiographs of 85 randomly selected patients attending a regional multi-practitioner chiropractic centre. The 3 variables measured were: absolute femur-head angle (AFHA), absolute sacral-base angle (ASBA), and absolute iliac-crest angle (AICA). From this data the relative positional relationships of these structures were calculated as x-axis rotations. Results: The subjects ranged from 9 to 80 years of age with an average age of 38.9 years (SD 15.2 years). There were 43 males and 42 females in the study. The data indicates that the clinician would expect to find patients have a sacral obliquity of about 3o, a leg length inequality of 1.7o and an inequality of the iliac crests of about 2o. Conclusion: The data suggests sacral obliquity is of significance in defining "normal" alignment of the lumbo-pelvic spine and has implications for the clinician in defining functional parameters and structural integrity for each individual. This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher; full text (print only) by subscription.
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