Reliability of clinical tests to evaluate nerve function and mechanosensitivity of the upper limb peripheral nervous system
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Brunner, Florian
Luomajoki, Hannu
Held, Ulrike
Bachmann, Lucas M
Kuenzer, Sabine
Coppieters, Michel W
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
Background. Clinical tests to assess peripheral nerve disorders can be classified into two categories: tests for afferent/efferent nerve function such as nerve conduction (bedside neurological examination) and tests for increased mechanosensitivity (e.g. upper limb neurodynamic tests (ULNTs) and nerve palpation). Reliability reports of nerve palpation and the interpretation of neurodynamic tests are scarce. This study therefore investigated the intertester reliability of nerve palpation and ULNTs. ULNTs were interpreted based on symptom reproduction and structural differentiation. To put the reliability of these tests in perspective, a comparison with the reliability of clinical tests for nerve function was made. Methods. Two experienced clinicians examined 31 patients with unilateral arm and/or neck pain. The examination included clinical tests for nerve function (sensory testing, reflexes and manual muscle testing (MMT)) and mechanosensitivity (ULNTs and palpation of the median, radial and ulnar nerve). Kappa statistics were calculated to evaluate intertester reliability. A meta-analysis determined an overall kappa for the domains with multiple kappa values (MMT, ULNT, palpation). We then compared the difference in reliability between the tests of mechanosensitivity and nerve function using a one-sample t-test. Results. We observed moderate to substantial reliability for the tests for afferent/efferent nerve function (sensory testing: kappa = 0.53; MMT: kappa = 0.68; no kappa was calculated for reflexes due to a lack of variation). Tests to investigate mechanosensitivity demonstrated moderate reliability (ULNT: kappa = 0.45; palpation: kappa = 0.59). When compared statistically, there was no difference in reliability for tests for nerve function and mechanosensitivity (p = 0.06). Conclusion. This study demonstrates that clinical tests which evaluate increased nerve mechanosensitivity and afferent/efferent nerve function have comparable moderate to substantial reliability. To further investigate the clinometric properties of these tests, more studies are needed to evaluate their validity.
Journal Title
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
10
Issue
1
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© 2009 Schmid et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Clinical sciences
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Orthopedics
Rheumatology
SMALL-FIBER NEUROPATHY
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Schmid, AB; Brunner, F; Luomajoki, H; Held, U; Bachmann, LM; Kuenzer, S; Coppieters, MW, Reliability of clinical tests to evaluate nerve function and mechanosensitivity of the upper limb peripheral nervous system, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 2009, 10 (1)