title: Tally counter test as a simple and objective assessment of cervical myelopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the usefulness of a novel performance test, the tally counter test (counter test), which uses a hand tally counter to objectively assess the severity of cervical myelopathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-three patients with compressive cervical myelopathy (mean age 64 ± 13 years) who were undergoing cervical laminoplasty and 280 healthy control subjects (aged 20-89 years) were tested. The subjects were instructed to push the button of a tally counter as many times as possible in 10 s. The average of the right- and left-sided values in each patient was used for analysis. In the patient group, counter test values were compared with Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) and Japanese version of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey scores preoperatively and 12 months postoperatively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average counter test value was significantly lower in patients with myelopathy than age- and gender-matched controls (32.9 ± 10.9 vs. 46.9 ± 8.5, P < 0.0001). The counter test value was significantly higher at 2 weeks postoperatively than preoperatively (P = 0.0014). Counter test values showed a moderate correlation with JOA scores and a weak to moderate correlation with SF-36 physical functioning, role functioning, and role-emotional scores both pre- and postoperatively. The intraclass correlation coefficient of counter test values was high both pre- and postoperatively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The tally counter test is objective and quantitative assessment method for patients with cervical myelopathy. The test is simple, reliable, and capable of detecting small functional changes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Jichi Medical University, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Shimotsuke, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan. akimura@jichi.ac.jp
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seichi
authors.forename: Teruaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Norimatsu
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hoshino
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019540:Area Under Curve; D019299:Decompression, Surgical; D019719:Diagnostic Equipment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D012372:ROC Curve; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult