Intratester reliability of three clinical methods of measuring active cervical range of motion in normal subjects: A preliminary study

Abstract

Active range of motion of the cervical spine is one of the most common tools used to evaluate the quality of neck pain patients. Many measurement methods, for in instance an universal goniometers (UG), an inclinometers and a Cervical Range of Motion (CROM), have been employed to asses a magnitude of cervical range of motion , however there is a lack of  the evidence to support the comparison of the reliability between the three measurement methods. The purpose of this study was to determine the intratester reliability of the three measurement methods in normal subjects. Ten subjects, aged 23.5 ± 1.9 years, were recruited in this study. Each subject was measured three times in each direction for each measurement method. Cervical flexion, extension and rotation were measured. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to quantify within-tester reliability. The results demonstrated that the CROM measurement method provided the highest reliability (ICC values range from 0.91 to 0.95) whereas the lowest reliability (ICC values range from 0.63 to 0.90) was obtained by the universal goniometer. Among these three measurement methods, the CROM provided the highest intratester reliability.