Thickness measurement of suboccipital muscles using ultrasonography in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain: a reliability study.

PURPOSE

To investigate the intrasession (test) and intersession (retest) reliability of rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI) in measuring the thickness of rectus capitis posterior major (RCPM) and oblique capitis superior (OCS) in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain (CNNP).

METHODS

Thirty-three CNNP patients (age 35 12.82 years, 24 women and 9 men) participated in the study. One examiner measured the thickness of the right and left RCPM and OCS in their resting position. For intrasession reliability, two measurements were conducted with an interval of 15 min. As for the intersession reliability, measurements were repeated with an interval of 3 to 4 days after the first session. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), minimal detectable change (MDC), coefficient of variation (CV), and Bland-Altman plots were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The ICC results for intrasession and intersession reliability ranged from 0.89 to 0.95 and 0.84 to 0.91, respectively. The SEM ranged from 0.35 to 0.57, while the MDC ranged from 0.97 to 1.58. The Bland-Altman plots demonstrated good agreement and no bias.

CONCLUSION

The current study found RUSI to be a reliable instrument for measuring the thickness of RCPM and OCS in CNNP patients.