Neck Disability Index

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Objective

The NDI is a modification of the Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Index. It is a patient-completed, condition-specific functional status questionnaire with 10 items including pain, personal care, lifting, reading, headaches, concentration, work, driving, sleeping and recreation. The NDI has sufficient support and usefulness to retain its current status as the most commonly used self-report measure for neck pain.

Intended Population

Chronic neck pain, musculoskeletal neck pain and whiplash injuries.

Method of Use

The NDI can be scored as raw score or doubled, and expressed as a percent . Each section is scored on a 0-5 scale, with the first statement being “0” (ie. No pain) and the last statement being “5” (ie. Worst imaginable pain). A higher score indicates more patient-rated disability. There is no statement in the original literature on how to handle missing data. To use the NDI for patient decisions, a clinically important change was calculated as 5 points, with a sensitivity of 0.78 and a specificity of 0.80.

Reference

Vernon H, Mior S. (1991) The neck disability index: A study of reliability and validity. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 14, 409-15

Evidence

Reliability

Vernon H, Mior S. (1991) The neck disability index: A study of reliability and validity. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 14, 409-15

Validity

Mark Chan Ci En, Dean A. Clair and Stephen J. Edmondston. Manual Therapy, 2009, 14(4):433-438

Responsiveness

The NDI appears to demonstrate adequate responsiveness in patients with neck pain and concomitant upper extrmity referred symptoms. Young et al suggest that a 10-point change should be used as the minimum clinically important difference.

Riddle DL, Stratford PW. Use of generic versus region specific functional status measures on patients with cervical spine disorders. Physical Therapy, 1998;78:951-963

Miscellaneous

Stratford PW, Riddle DL, Binkley JM et al (1999) Using the neck disability index to make decisions concerning individual patients Physiotherapy Canada, 2,107-112.

Jette DU, Jette AM (1996) Physical therapy and health outcomes in patients with spinal impairments. Physical Therapy 76, 930-45

Links

View Neck Disability Index

Recent Related Research (from Pubmed)

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References

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1. Macdermid JC, Walton DM, Avery S, Blanchard A, Etruw E, McAlpine C, Goldsmith CH. Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy. 2009 May;39(5):400-17. 2. Vernon H, Mior S. The neck disability index: A study of reliability and validity. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1991, 14:409-15 3. Riddle DL, Stratford PW. Use of generic versus region specific functional status measures on patients with cervical spine disorders. Physical Therapy, 1998;78:951-963 4. Stratford PW, Riddle DL, Binkley JM et al (1999) Using the neck disability index to make decisions concerning individual patients Physiotherapy Canada, 2,107-112. 5. Mark Chan Ci En, Dean A. Clair and Stephen J. Edmondston. Manual Therapy, 2009, 14(4):433-438 6. Young BA, Walker MJ, Strunce JB, Boyles RE, Whitman JM, Childs JD. Responsiveness of the Neck Disability Index in patients with mechanical neck disorders. Spine, 2009 Jul 24, online article ahead of print. 7. Jette DU, Jette AM. Physical therapy and health outcomes in patients with spinal impairments. Physical Therapy, 1996; 76:930-45 8. hoving et al., Validity of the neck disability index, Northwick park neck pain questionnaire, and problem elicitation technique for measuring disability associated with whiplash-associated disorders, pain,2003 9. Gay etal. COMPARISON OF THE NECK DISABILITY INDEX AND THE NECK BOURNEMOUTH QUESTIONNAIRE IN A SAMPLE OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC UNCOMPLICATED NECK PAIN., Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics,2007. 10. Pool et al. Minimal Clinically Important Change of the Neck Disability Index and the Numerical Rating Scale for Patients With Neck Pain, spine, 2007 11. Cleland et al . Psychometric Properties of the Neck Disability Index and Numeric Pain Rating Scale in patients With Mechanical Neck Pain, Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008 12. young et al. Reliability, Construct Validity, and Responsiveness of the Neck Disability Index, Patient-Specific Functional Scale, and Numeric Pain Rating Scale in Patients with Cervical Radiculopathy, American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 2010 13. Macdermin et al. measurement properties of the neck disability index: a systematic review, journal of orthopeadic and sports physical therap, 2009