Reliability of the Pettibon Patient Positioning System for Radiographic Production

The research reported here investigated the reliability of the patient positioning procedure used to evaluate the upper cervical region by practitioners of the Pettibon Technique and sought to establish the range of error of measurement for mensuration. Thirty-eight subjects completed the study which included taking two series of both an anterior to posterior nasium as well as lateral cervical radiographs. The second series of x-rays were taken from one-half to 4 hours after the initial radiographs.While there were no intermediate chiropractic adjustments provided, the use of a simulated adjustment was performed.The collected data indicates that the reliability, as represented by the standard error measurement, is approximately one-half a degree for the upper angle measurement and two-thirds of a degree for the lower angle measurement. In both cases, the measurement error estimate is less than the one degree claimed by the author of the method tested.