A new iPhone® application for measuring active craniocervical range of motion in patients with non-specific neck pain: a reliability and validity study

Publication date: Available online 7 September 2017
Source:The Spine Journal
Author(s): Mohammad Reza Pourahmadi, Rasool Bagheri, Morteza Taghipour, Ismail Ebrahimi Takamjani, Javad Sarrafzadeh, Mohammad Ali Mohseni-Bandpei
Background ContextMeasurement of cervical spine range of motion (ROM) is often considered to be an essential component of cervical spine physiotherapy assessment.PurposeTo investigate the reliability and validity of an iPhone^® app (Goniometer Pro^©) for measuring active craniocervical ROM (ACCROM) in patients with non-specific neck pain.Study Design/SettingA cross-sectional study was conducted at the musculoskeletal biomechanics laboratory located at Iran University of Medical Sciences.Patient SampleForty non-specific neck pain patients participated in this study.Outcome MeasuresACCROM including flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation.MethodFollowing the recruitment process, ACCROM was measured using a universal goniometer and iPhone^® 7 app. Two blinded examiners each utilized the universal goniometer and iPhone^® to measure ACCROM in the following sequences: flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation. The second (2 h later) and third (48 h later) sessions were carried out in the same manner as the first session. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) models were used to determine the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. The Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to establish concurrent validity of the iPhone^® app. Minimum detectable change at the 95% confidence level (MDC95) was also computed.ResultsGood intra-rater and inter-rater reliability was demonstrated for the goniometer with ICC values of ≥ 0.66 and ≥ 0.70 and the iPhone^® app with ICC values of ≥ 0.62 and ≥ 0.65, respectively. The MDC95 ranged from 2.21° to 12.50° for the intra-rater analysis and from 3.40° to 12.61° for the inter-rater analysis. The concurrent validity between the two instruments was high, with r values of ≥ 0.63. The magnitude of the differences between the UG and iPhone^® app values (effect sizes) was small with Cohen's d values of ≤ 0.17.ConclusionsThe iPhone^® app possesses good reliability and high validity. It seems that this app can be used for measuring ACCROM.



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