Abstract

Intra-rater reliability of cervical sensory motor function and cervical reconstruction test in healthy subjects

Author(s):Hatamvand S., Ghiasi F., Asgari Ashtiani A. R., Akbari A. and Hossienifar M.

Impairment of cervicocephalic and head joint position sense has an important role in the recurrent and chronic of cervicocephalic pain. The various tools are suggested for evaluating the cervicocephalic joint position sense. Although reconstruction of cervical angle is a clinical criterion for measuring the cervicocephalic proprioception, the reliability of this method has not been completely accepted. The purpose of this study was to evaluate intra-rater reliability of cervical sensory motor function and cervical reconstruction test in healthy subjects. twenty four healthy subjects (25.70±6.08 y) through simple non-probability sampling participated in this single-group repeatedmeasures reliability study. Participants were asked to relocate the neck, as accurately as possible, after full active cervical flexion, extension and rotation to the left and right sides. Five trials were performed for each movement. Laser pointer was used in head of patient. The distance between zero spot and joint position which patient had been reconstructed, was measured by centimeter. Intra-class correlation Coefficient (ICCs) and Pearson's correlation coefficient test was used to determine intra-rater reliability of variables. The results showed that intra-class correlation Coefficient (ICCs) values with 95% confidence interval (CI) and the standard error of the measurement (SEM) were good to excellent agreement for a single investigator between measurement occasions. Intra-class correlation Coefficient (ICCs) values were obtained for flexion movement (ICCs:0.75, good), extension movement (ICCs:0.81, very good), right rotation (ICCs:0.64, good) and left rotation (ICCs:0.64, good). The cervicocephalic relocation test to neutral head position by laser pointer is a reliable method to measure cervical sensory motor function. Therefore, it can be used for evaluating cervicocephalic proprioception of patient with cervicocephalic pain.

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