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INTRODUCTION: In clinical practice, cervical proprioception is usually evaluated by calculating the cervical joint position error (JPE) with laser pointer devices (LPD) or cervical range-of-motion (CROM) instruments. As technology continues to improve, more and more advanced tools are used to evaluate cervical proprioception. The purpose of this study was to analyze the reliability and validity of the WitMotion sensor (WS) device in evaluating cervical proprioception, and to explore a cheaper, more convenient, and more practical testing tool. METHODS: Twenty-eight healthy participants (16 women, 12 men; age 25-66 years) were recruited and evaluated for cervical joint position error with a WS and LPD by two independent observers. All participants repositioned their head to the target position and the deviation of repositioning was calculated using these two instruments. The intra- and inter-rater reliability of the instrument were determined by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and the validity was analyzed by calculating the ICC and the Spearman's correlation. RESULTS: The intra-rater reliability of the WS (ICCs = 0.682-0.774) was higher than that of the LPD (ICCs = 0.512-0.719) for measuring JPE of cervical flexion, right lateral flexion, and left rotation. However, the LPD (ICCs = 0.767-0.796) outperformed the WS (ICCs = 0.507-0.661) in cervical extension, left lateral flexion, and right rotation. For the inter-rater reliability, the ICC values obtained by the WS and the LPD were above 0.70 for all cervical movements except cervical extension and left lateral flexion (ICCs = 0.580-0.679). For the validity, the ICC values were moderate to good (ICCs > 0.614) for measuring JPE in all movements with the WS and the LPD. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the high ICC values of reliability and validity, the novel device can be an alternative tool to evaluate cervical proprioception in clinical practice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100047228).
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BACKGROUND: Neck pain and cervical disc degeneration (CDD) are common findings. Valid data on correlation between clinical scores and radiological grade of CDD in patients with mild to moderate clinical disability are not available. The study has been designed to investigate the correlation between clinical and radiological outcomes in these patients. METHODS: A cohort of 150 patients who suffered from mild to moderate cervical spine dysfunction symptoms from September 2020 to May 2021 was enrolled. We evaluated functional status using Japanese Orthopaedic Association scores (JOA), the visual analog scale, and the Neck Disability Index. We assessed the CDD with magnetic resonance imaging-based grading systems. We analyzed relationships between radiological grades of CDD and clinical symptoms along with demographic data. RESULTS: One hundred thirteen patients [mean age 44.78, 78 (69%) females] were finally included. CDD occurred most at the C5-C6 level, with 56.93% of higher grade III from Miyazaki. The grades of Miyazaki (P < 0.05) and the scores of Nakashima (P < 0.05) were positively correlated with the duration of symptoms, and the severity of the CDD increased with aging (P < 0.01). Moreover, we correlated patients' JOA scores with the current scoring and grading systems, especially the grades of Miyazaki (P < 0.01) and the scores of Nakashima (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Increasing grades of CDD paralleled decreasing JOA scores in the population studied.
