Spanish version of the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire: Reliabilityand validity

Ojective To validate a Spanish version of the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) and to prove its usefulness in clinical practice. Methods We studied 58 patients with nan-inflammatory neek pain of more than 4 month s duration, A blind back translation of the NPQ was made, and the resulting back-translation version was then compared with the original. The NPQ comp rises 9 questions with 5 statements of increasing difficulty. Patients camp leted the questionnaire 3 times: on their initial assessment; 8,10 days lat er (test-retest); and after physiotherapy treatment 3 months later Neck pai n was assessed by a visual analogue scale (VAS). Results Fifty-three patients completed the questionnaire (90%) There was a good int ra-class correlation between the test-retest NPQ (r = 0.63), indicating goo d agreement. For each of the 9 sections, agreement ranged from r = 0.43 to r = 0.85, p < 0.05 in all cases. Correlation with the VAS was also goad, be tween r = 0.51 (test) and r = 074 (retest) (p < 0.05 in all cases). Pain me asured by the VAS increased according to the NPQ scare, grouped by percenta ges (p = 0.003) The mean scores for each section increased with that of the intensity of pain, in mast sections showing good internal consistency Pain and the NPQ score improved after treatment (56.1 +/- 20.2 to 29.9 +/- 20.1 , p = 0.0001 and 45.9% +/- 12,7% to 28.9% +/- 15.3% p = 0.0001 respectively ), as did all the other items except for driving (p < 0.05). Conclusions The Spanish version of the NPQ is a feasible, reliable and valid instrument to measure pain in Spanish-speaking patients with chronic neck pain.