Cervical vertebra angle measurement

A method of determining an impact to cerebral spinal fluid flow to and from a patient's brain based on a degree of axial rotational alignment between a selected CI or C2 vertebra of the patient's neck and the patient's surrounding anatomy, using an upright magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, the method comprising:

• (a) generating a magnetic resonance (MR) image of the patient in a standing or sitting position using a computing device and an imaging coil of the apparatus, wherein the imaging coil comprises:
• a saddle coil with anterior-posterior field sensitivity and having a length that permits for a center of the coil to reach the patient's cranial-cervical joint when slid over the patient's head:
• and
• a solenoid coil nested within the saddle element including a pair of rings, wherein a space between the pair of rings is adapted to position a highest signal-to-noise of the solenoid coil at the patient's cranial-cervical junction;
• (b) identifying, in the MR image, two or more features of the selected vertebra of the patient's neck,
• (c) determining a first axis connecting the identified features of the selected vertebra,
• (d) identifying, in the MR image, two or more features of the patient's surrounding anatomy that are not the selected vertebra,
• (e) determining a second axis connecting the identified features of the patient's surrounding anatomy, wherein the second axis represents a sagittal plane of the patient, measuring an angular difference between the first and second axes, wherein
• (f) the angular difference is indicative of an orientation of the selected vertebra relative to the sagittal plane of the patient, and
• (g) determining the degree of axial rotational alignment of the selected vertebra based on the measured angular difference.