The prevalence of congenital cervical spinal stenosis in 262 college and high school football players.

Pavlov's ratio is a commonly utilized method for evaluating athletes for cervical stenosis. We evaluated the lateral cervical spine film and determined Pavlov's ratio for 262 college and high school football players. Twenty (7.6%) of these athletes had radiographic evidence of congenital cervical stenosis according to this method. The condition may be more common than expected.