[Diagnostic criteria and new classification of the cervical spine syndrome]

Pain and functional disorders of the neck are widely diagnosed as "cervical spine syndrome". As this diagnosis is not able to sufficiently specify the different symptoms, a new classification with five pain syndromes, created empirically, was developed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive values of the diagnostic criteria respectively clinical findings of patients diagnosed with cervical spine syndrome.

Within the two year time frame of the study all patients diagnosed with "cervical spine syndrome", which presented themselves at the clinic, were included. The statistic analysis was performed in multiple steps: univariate analyses, bivariate variable screening and the use of the logistic regression model.

Within two years 653 patients previously diagnosed as suffering from cervical spine syndrome presented at the clinic; 332 of them were included in the study. According to the diagnostic criteria they were attached to one of the five pain syndromes. The statistical analysis showed in 17 of 35 evaluated diagnostic criteria a significant association to one of the five subgroups of the cervical spine syndrome.

The statistical analyses revealed significant associations between diagnostic criteria which were assessed by clinical examination and the five subgroups of the cervical spine syndrome. The identified predictors represent the typical syndrome-associated diagnostic criteria of a certain syndrome-subgroup.