Cervical Spine Instability Screening Tool Thai Version: Assessment of Convergent Validity and Rater Reliability

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Physical Therapy
• Diagnostic Tools

Background:

• Cervical spine instability presents with symptoms like neck pain and dizziness, potentially leading to cervical spondylolisthesis.
• Early detection of cervical spine instability is crucial to prevent complications.
• A Thai version of the cervical spine instability screening tool (CSI-TH) was previously developed and its content validity assessed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the rater reliability and convergent validity of the Thai version of the cervical spine instability screening tool (CSI-TH).

Main Methods:

• 160 participants with chronic neck pain were assessed.
• Convergent validity was evaluated using the Neck Disability Index Thai version (NDI-TH), Visual Analog Scale Thai version (VAS-TH), and Modified STarT Back Screening Tool Thai version (mSBST-TH).
• Inter- and intra-rater reliabilities were determined by novice and experienced physical therapists.

Main Results:

• Excellent intra-rater reliability (0.992) and inter-rater reliability (0.987) were found for the CSI-TH.
• Acceptable convergent validity was observed between CSI-TH and VAS-TH (0.5446), NDI-TH (0.5545), and mSBST-TH (0.5136) (p < 0.01).

Conclusions:

• The CSI-TH is a reliable and valid screening tool for physical therapists, suitable for both novice and experienced practitioners.
• The tool demonstrates acceptable correlation with other neck-related questionnaires.
• The CSI-TH is concise, clinically practical, and more cost-effective than the gold standard for diagnosing cervical spine instability.