The core outcomes for neck pain: validation of a new outcome measure

Patients enrolled in a randomized controlled trial were asked to complete various questionnaires, which were then compared to establish validity for a new neck pain questionnaire.

To validate a new and brief outcome measure for use with patients with mechanical neck pain.

Neck pain is a very common problem and one that clinicians will be required to treat with some regularity. In today's climate of evidence-based practice and the need to quantify and justify clinical intervention, a quick and easy method to evaluate progress is required. Such a measure has already been produced for those experiencing back pain, but as yet, there is no such measure for neck pain and this needs to be addressed.

The back pain measure was adapted to enable its use with patients with neck pain. Repeatability was assessed by using a 1-week test/retest on 104 patients who were enrolled in a neck pain trial. Validity was assessed by comparing the new questionnaire against other already well validated measures (i.e., the Neck Disability Index and a Visual Analogue Scale for pain) with 133 patients.

The test/retest showed excellent repeatability with high intraclass correlations and P < 0.001 for each question tested. The Core Neck Pain Questionnaire also showed good validity, giving close agreement to the other comparison measures.

The short Core Neck Pain Questionnaire has been demonstrated to be repeatable and valid as a brief outcome measure for use with patients with mechanical neck pain.