Measuring cervical muscle tenderness: a study of reliability.

PURPOSE

To study the inter- and intraexaminer reliability of assessing palpatory cervical muscle tenderness using a Total Tenderness Score System.

DESIGN

Blinded, repeated measures of cervical muscle Total Tenderness Score.

SETTING

Primary contact ambulatory outpatient facility in a publicly (National Health Service) funded chiropractic research institution.

PARTICIPANTS

Fourteen asymptomatic volunteers, seven male and seven female, aged 23-45 yr.

INTERVENTION

Palpatory assessment of cervical muscle tenderness by two blinded examiners, three times in all per subject.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Total Tenderness Score (TTS), measured on a rank/ordinal scale.

RESULTS

The inter- and intraexaminer reliability of TTS was evaluated using a Spearman rank correlation coefficient (r = .88 and r = .85, respectively), and using a Wilcoxon paired rank sum test (p = .85 and p = .07, respectively) and by visual inspection of a scatter-plot.

CONCLUSION

The Total Tenderness Score system was deemed to possess acceptable reliability for use in the cervical muscles.