Date of Award

1993

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Physical Therapy (MPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

First Advisor

Henry C. Wessman

Keywords

Pain Measurement -- methods

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interexaminer reliability of the McKenzie algorithm. Thirty-one subjects (25 females and 6 males), ages 20 to 77, with reported neck pain participated in this study. Each subject was examined twice by two McKenzie trained physical therapists. The subjects were evaluated separately utilizing standard McKenzie Cervical Assessment formats and procedures. Upon completion of the assessment, each therapist used an adapted McKenzie cervical algorithm to classify each patient into one of the possible syndromes (Postural, Dysfunction, or Derangements 1-7). Only five diagnostic categories contained enough data to accurately examine reliability and, therefore, coefficient alpha was selected to analyze internal consistency between scores. The results of this study demonstrated fair to excellent interexaminer reliability (.736 to 1.00) for dysfunction and derangements 1, 3, and 7. The poor reliability found with derangement 4 may be attributed to difficulty in detecting wry neck or torticollis deformities. These results indicated that utilization of the McKenzie framework can produce a consistent and reliable diagnosis to promote correct treatment choices.

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