*Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute, Mumbai, India,
**School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
***Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College Of Allied Health Sciences (MCOAHS), Manipal University, India,
****Rehabilitation Centre, 815, Walnut Ave, Mcallen, Texas, USA
To establish intrarater and interrater reliability and (concurrent) validity of the modified sphygmomanometer unit (MSU) in cranio-cervical flexion test (CCFT) on asymptomatic individuals.
Cross-sectional, observational study.
Manipal College Of Allied Health Sciences (MCOAHS), India.
Thirty asymptomatic subjects (15 males and 15 females, age
33.7 ± 8.55 years) participated in the procedure for interrater reliability. Five subjects (3 males and 2 females, age 24.0 ± 1.87 years) participated in the procedure for intrarater reliability.
For investigating interrater reliability and concurrent validity, the participants were made to perform CCFT to assess cranio-cervical flexors performance using pressure biofeedback unit (PBU) and MSU with three trials for both the equipments in the presence of three raters. First and second rater scored the trials while the third rater administered the procedure. For intrarater reliability, first rater did video recording of the CCFT procedure for 5 subjects with 3 trials for each of them with MSU. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for interrater reliability of PBU and MSU was analysed using the two repeated scores out of the three trials for 30 subjects. ICC for intrarater reliability of MSU was calculated using the scores obtained from videographic analysis of 15 trials on two different occasions within an interval of 5 days. ICC was used to establish concurrent validity of MSU with PBU using first rater scores.
The CCFT scores were recorded in millimeters of mercury (mmHg).
The ICC value of 0.88 and 0.93 implied a high interrater reliability for MSU and PBU respectively. For MSU, the ICC value of 0.96 implied very high intrarater reliability. ICC value of 0.91 for MSU and PBU scores of first rater implied high concurrent validity. Conclusion: Based on these results, a MSU could be used as a valid alternative for PBU to assess cranio-cervical flexor performance in a reliable manner among asymptomatic individuals. Future studies are needed to investigate reliability of the MSU in patient population suffering from neck disorders.
Cranio-Cervical Flexors, asymptomatic individuals
