Intertester reliability of the flexible ruler for the cervical spine

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the flexible ruler had intertester reliability for the cervical curvature in normal subjects. Measurements of the cervical curvature were taken on 20 subjects in two different positions: with the cervical spine in a neutral position and with the spine in the fully flexed position. The correlation between testers for the neutral position was r = + 0.80, while the intertester reliability for the flexed position was r = + 0.90. Furthermore, paired-data t-tests showed that no significant differences existed between testers for both positions (p > 0.05). The data suggest that the flexible ruler is a reliable measuring tool between testers for the cervical curvature. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1989;10(7):254-256.