ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Several tests have been suggested to assess the isometric endurance of the cervical flexor (NFME) and extensors (NEE) muscles. This study proposes to determine whether neck flexors endurance is related to extensor endurance, and whether cervical muscle endurance is related to disability, pain amount and pain stage in subjects with neck pain. METHODS: Thirty subjects (18 women, 12 men, mean ± SD age: 43 ± 12 years) complaining of neck pain filled out the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Neck Pain and Disability Scale-Italian version (NPDS-I). They also completed the timed endurance tests for the cervical muscles. RESULTS: The mean endurance was 246.7 ± 150 seconds for the NEE test, and 44.9 ± 25.3 seconds for the NMFE test. A significant correlation was found between the results of these two tests (r = 0.52, p = 0.003). A positive relationship was also found between VAS and NPDS-I (r = 0.549, p = 0.002). The endurance rates were similar for acute/subacute and chronic subjects, whereas males demonstrated significantly higher values compared to females in NFME test. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that neck flexors and extensors endurance are correlated and that the cervical endurance is not significantly altered by the duration of symptoms in subjects with neck pain.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to measure the intra- and intertester reliability of the Upper Limb Neurodynamic Test 1 in asymptomatic subjects with respect to onset of pain, submaximal pain (SP), first resistance (R1), and second resistance, and determine the effect of several repetitions of the test. METHODS: Three physiotherapists evaluated the dominant upper arm of 36 asymptomatic adult subjects 5 times with an electrogoniometer. RESULTS: Intratester reliability for R1 was good with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC 3,1) ranging from 0.69 to 0.91. Intertester reliability was fair for R1 (0.48, standard error [SE] = 0.14), second resistance (0.62, SE = 0.011), and SP (0.64, SE = 0.09), but good for onset of pain (0.72, SE = 0.011). The ICCs on 5 repetitions for each observer were higher, ranging from 0.51 (R1, SE = 0.066) to 0.76 (SP, SE = 0.049). Using the data from the 2 more expert physiotherapists, almost all ICCs were in the good range. The effect of 5 repetitions was a statistically significant progressive improvement of range on all parameters from the first to the final repetition. CONCLUSIONS: Our results regarding the reliability are in line with other studies on the reliability of manual therapy tests. Moreover, the cumulative effect of repetition suggests that the Upper Limb Neurodynamic Test 1 may warrant investigation as a treatment technique.
