Article

OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychometric properties of the Neck Disability Index,
Patient-Specific Functional Scale, and the Numeric Pain Rating Scale in a cohort
of patients with cervical radiculopathy. DESIGN: A single-group repeated-measures
design. Patients (n = 165) presenting to physical therapy with cervical
radiculopathy completed the Neck Disability Index, Patient-Specific Functional
Scale, and Numeric Pain Rating Scale at the baseline examination and at a
follow-up. At the time of follow-up, all patients also completed the Global
Rating of Change, which was used to dichotomize patients as improved or stable.
Baseline and follow-up scores were used to determine the test-retest reliability,
construct validity, and minimal levels of detectable and clinically important
change for the Neck Disability Index, Patient-Specific Functional Scale, and
Numeric Pain Rating Scale. RESULTS: Both the Neck Disability Index and Numeric
Pain Rating Scale exhibited fair test-retest reliability, whereas the
Patient-Specific Functional Scale exhibited poor reliability in patients with
cervical radiculopathy. All three outcome measures showed adequate responsiveness
in this patient population. The minimal detectable change was 13.4 for the Neck
Disability Index, 3.3 for the Patient-Specific Functional Scale, and 4.1 for the
Numeric Pain Rating Scale. The threshold for the minimal clinically important
difference was 8.5 for the Neck Disability Index and 2.2 for both the
Patient-Specific Functional Scale and Numeric Pain Rating Scale. CONCLUSIONS: In
light of the varied distribution of symptoms in patients with cervical
radiculopathy, future studies should investigate the psychometric properties of
other neck-related disability measures in this patient population.

Langue : ANGLAIS