The intra- and inter-rater reliability of five clinical muscle performance tests in patients with and without neck pain

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Karen Søgaard³  Flemming Enoch¹  Henning Langberg²  Tina Juul³ 

[1] FYSIQ Tårnby, Copenhagen, Denmark;CopenRehab, Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, The University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

关键词: Joint position sense;    Assessment tools;    Cervical spine;    Physical therapy;   

Others  :  1129088
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2474-14-339

 received in 2013-05-02, accepted in 2013-11-22,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

This study investigates the reliability of muscle performance tests using cost- and time-effective methods similar to those used in clinical practice. When conducting reliability studies, great effort goes into standardising test procedures to facilitate a stable outcome. Therefore, several test trials are often performed. However, when muscle performance tests are applied in the clinical setting, clinicians often only conduct a muscle performance test once as repeated testing may produce fatigue and pain, thus variation in test results. We aimed to investigate whether cervical muscle performance tests, which have shown promising psychometric properties, would remain reliable when examined under conditions similar to those of daily clinical practice.

Methods

The intra-rater (between-day) and inter-rater (within-day) reliability was assessed for five cervical muscle performance tests in patients with (n = 33) and without neck pain (n = 30). The five tests were joint position error, the cranio-cervical flexion test, the neck flexor muscle endurance test performed in supine and in a 45°-upright position and a new neck extensor test.

Results

Intra-rater reliability ranged from moderate to almost perfect agreement for joint position error (ICC ≥ 0.48-0.82), the cranio-cervical flexion test (ICC ≥ 0.69), the neck flexor muscle endurance test performed in supine (ICC ≥ 0.68) and in a 45°-upright position (ICC ≥ 0.41) with the exception of a new test (neck extensor test), which ranged from slight to moderate agreement (ICC = 0.14-0.41). Likewise, inter-rater reliability ranged from moderate to almost perfect agreement for joint position error (ICC ≥ 0.51-0.75), the cranio-cervical flexion test (ICC ≥ 0.85), the neck flexor muscle endurance test performed in supine (ICC ≥ 0.70) and in a 45°-upright position (ICC ≥ 0.56). However, only slight to fair agreement was found for the neck extensor test (ICC = 0.19-0.25).

Conclusions

Intra- and inter-rater reliability ranged from moderate to almost perfect agreement with the exception of a new test (neck extensor test), which ranged from slight to moderate agreement. The significant variability observed suggests that tests like the neck extensor test and the neck flexor muscle endurance test performed in a 45°-upright position are too unstable to be used when evaluating neck muscle performance.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Juul et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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