Introduction Musculoskeletal conditions, particularly cervical spondylosis, pose major health and economic concerns, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Yet, traditional screening methods through manual goniometry are subjective and time-consuming. This study investigates the reliability and validity of RomIX, a photogrammetric scanner system with shoulder straps as a foundation for future sensor integration. Methodology: Fifty asymptomatic adults were invited to perform ROM assessment across six cervical movements, including flexion, extension, right/left side bending, and right/left rotation. Two testing sessions (with and without shoulder straps) were independently performed over three measurements to gain insights into the agreement and correlation between the two methods. Results: RomIX indicated excellent intra-reliability across all movements for both methods with high intra-class coefficients (ICC ≥ 0.848) and strong Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r ≥ 0.889). The system with shoulder straps also showed good to excellent construct validity compared to the bare system, with moderate to high ICC values (0.801 to 0.954) and strong correlations (r ≥ 0.822). Besides, Bland-Altman plots affirmed that shoulder straps consistently increased ROM measurements by nearly 6° in all neck movements, while the strong agreements between the two methods were illustrated via linear regression plots with high correlation coefficients (R2 ≥ 0.816). Discussion and conclusion:The obtained results provide scientific evidence for the reliability and validity of RomIX with additional shoulder straps, which facilitate its development and refinement for future sensor attachment to enhance cervical ROM evaluation in large-scale cervical screening and community healthcare settings.