Cervical motion in patients with chronic disorders of the cervical spine: a reproducibility study.
METHODS
Test-retest of cervical motion in patients with chronic disorders of the cervical spine.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the reproducibility of cervical motion and examine the feasibility of its representation by a single parameter.


BACKGROUND
Reproducibility of cervical motion findings has been largely limited to normal subjects, leaving a conspicuous void regarding the measurement error in clinical groups.


METHODS
There were 2 groups of 25 chronic patients with whiplash and degenerative changes of the cervical spine tested twice (4-7 days). Head movement was measured along the 6 directions, as well as during rotation out of flexion and extension (cervical degenerative changes only).


RESULTS
Compared to normal subjects, both groups had a 25% to 35% reduction in cervical motion. High intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) (range 0.8-0.92) were derived for all directions. The ICCs for rotation out of flexion and extension were low. The relative standard error of measurement ranged from 15% to 28% for all directions, whereas the corresponding scores of the total cervical motion excursion were 10.6 (cervical degenerative changes) and 13.6% (whiplash).


CONCLUSIONS
Judged by the ICCs cervical motion, findings were reproducible. However, in view of the measurement error as well as the homogenous reductions, total cervical range of motion should be considered a suitable parameter for interpretation of cervical motion limitations in these patients.
Dvir
Zeevi
Z
Department of Physical Therapy, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel. zdvir@post.tau.ac.il
Gal-Eshel
Noga
N
Shamir
Boaz
B
Prushansky
Tamara
T
Pevzner
Evgeny
E
Peretz
Chava
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012399:Rotation; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014911:Whiplash Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*