Relationships among selected measures of impairment, functional limitation, and disability in patients with cervical spine disorders

Background and Purpose. Little is known about the relationship among impair ments, functional limitations, and disability in people with cervical spine disorders (CSD) despite the fact that these concepts are routinely used in clinical practice. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate th e relationships among commonly assessed impairment, functional limitation, and disability measures in patients with CSD. A secondary purpose was to de termine the influence of payment source and time since onset of symptoms on these same measures. Subjects. Eighty patients (mean age=45.7 years, SD=15 .9, range = 20-88) with CSD who were referred for physical therapy particip ated in the study, Methods. Data were obtained for 3 measures of impairment , 2 measures of functional limitation, and 3 measures of self-reported disa bility during the initial visit. Results. All 3 sets of variables tie, impa irment, functional limitation, disability) correlated with each other, with the highest correlation occurring between the impairment measures and the functional limitation measures (r=.82). Other correlations were noted betwe en individual variables. There was no effect of payment type or time since onset of symptoms on the variables. Conclusion and Discussion. Positive cor relations were noted among the 3 sets of measures, which supports the assum ption that impairments, functional limitations, and disability are related in patients with CSD.