Km. Hermann et Cs. Reese, Relationships among selected measures of impairment, functional limitation, and disability in patients with cervical spine disorders, PHYS THER, 81(3), 2001, pp. 903-912
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.