Interexaminer reliability of palpation for cervical spine tenderness.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the interexaminer reliability of manual palpation for cervical spine tenderness in neck pain patients.


METHODS
Interexaminer reliability was studied using a within-subjects (repeated measures) design. Seven joints on the symptomatic side of the neck were palpated for maximal tenderness.


METHODS
Private chiropractic practice of the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic.


METHODS
Thirty patients with unilateral mechanical neck pain, symptomatic at the time of examination, were recruited from a chiropractic practice.


RESULTS
Good interexaminer reliability (kappa = .68, p < .001, percent agreement 76.6%).


CONCLUSIONS
In this population, palpation for cervical spine tenderness is a highly reliable examination tool. The findings of this study are consistent with those of palpation of the lumbar spine. Further investigation is needed to assess the usefulness of spinal tenderness as an outcome measure, the behavior of tenderness over time, and the prevalence of tenderness in symptomatic and asymptomatic populations.
Hubka
M J
MJ
Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, Whittier, CA.
Phelan
S P
SP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D002684:Chiropractic / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010173:Palpation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results