title: Inter-and intra-tester reliability of a battery of cervical movement control dysfunction tests.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Apart from the cranio-cervical flexion test and the deep neck flexor endurance test, evidence related to reliability of cervical movement control dysfunction tests is lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated the inter- and intra-tester reliability of a battery of cervical movement control dysfunction tests and the effect of clinician experience on reliability in 15 patients with chronic neck pain and 17 non-neck pain controls. In addition, it explored whether impaired performance on this battery of tests was more frequently observed in the neck pain group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Inter and intra-tester reliability study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were videotaped while performing a battery of nine active cervical movement control dysfunction tests. Two physiotherapists, with different levels of experience, independently rated all tests on two occasions two weeks apart. They were masked to participants' neck pain or non-neck pain status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Inter-tester reliability for the complete battery of tests was substantial (κ = 0.69; 95% CI: 0.62, 0.76). Intra-rater reliability values for the expert (κ = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.79, 0.92) and novice (κ = 0.76; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.68, 0.84) were overall comparable suggesting that novices can achieve good accuracy with the battery of tests if trained. The frequency of impaired performances in cervical movement control dysfunction tests was low and comparable between groups. Only two tests achieved a greater number of impaired ratings in the patient group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although reliable, further research in larger neck pain populations is required to explore this battery of tests, in order to establish their diagnostic accuracy for identifying clinically relevant cervical movement control dysfunction.
authors: CEREDE Sports Medicine, Barcelona, Spain; International Institute of Exercise Science and Health, Spain.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Segarra
authors: Department of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Dueñas
authors: Department of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Torres
authors: Pain Clinic, Center for Anesthesiology, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; Department of Neurorehabilitation Engineering, Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology Göttingen, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Falla
authors: Division of Physiotherapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Australia.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Jull
authors: Department of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Pain in Motion Research Group, Department of Human Physiology, Faculty of Physical Education & Rehabilitation, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Pain in Motion Research Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physical Education & Rehabilitation, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Electronic address: enrique.lluch@uv.es.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Lluch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010807:Physical Endurance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Movement control tests; Neck pain; Reliability