Performance Based Assessment and its Association with Pain and Disability in Patients with Chronic Neck Pain

Background
The neck, also known as the cervical region, is a complex area of the body that house important organs such as blood vessels, nerves, and the spinal cord. It is divided into several compartments, each with a unique organ or function. One of the most common and debilitating musculoskeletal disorders, chronic neck pain (CNP) is defined as discomfort that lasts longer than three months and has a longer expected recovery period. The most prevalent kind of neck pain is non-specific chronic neck discomfort, which affects two-thirds of those who work at a desktop at some point in their lives. People's quality of life and productivity at work are both impacted by neck pain, which is a major public health concern.
Patients with chronic neck discomfort report pain as their main symptom, although the degree of functional impairment is not always correlated with the intensity of pain. Therefore, impairment and functional performance should be considered in addition to pain intensity when evaluating chronic neck pain. Self-reported methods like the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) or Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) are frequently used to quantify pain intensity.
Patients with chronic neck discomfort report pain as their main symptom, although the degree of functional impairment is not always correlated with the intensity of pain. Therefore, impairment and functional performance should be considered in addition to pain intensity when evaluating chronic neck pain. Self-reported methods like the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) or Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) are frequently used to quantify pain intensity. The Neck Disability Index (NDI) is the most widely used outcome measure in the assessment of chronic neck pain. Functional evaluation capacity is established in order to measure functional performance.
Consequently, there might be differences between what patients report and what they are physically able to do. As a result, the current study will concentrate on how patients perceive themselves using a self-reported questionnaire and how their actual performance is evaluated using a functional performance questionnaire.
Aim and Objectives
The aim of the study was to determine Physical performance assessment in patients with chronic neck pain. The objective was to correlate physical performance measure with pain and disability in patients with chronic neck pain.
Methodology
100 Participants were recruited based on inclusion criteria from various hospitals, clinics and OPDs of Vadodara. He/she was explained about the study and informed consent was taken. Then the participants were asked to fill up the questionnaire of Neck Disability index (NDI), Numerical Pain rating Scale (NPRS) and were asked to fill the demographic details. Then the Participants were asked to perform certain tests (Functional Capacity Evaluation scale) and how the participant performs, scoring was be done accordingly by the therapist.
Results
Descriptive analysis was done to analyse the demographic and Sociodemographic variables. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to determine Normality of data. To determine the correlation between FCE with NPRS and NDI Spearman’s or Pearsons correlation will be used based on normality of data distribution. (p<0.05). A strong negative correlation was obtained between NDI, NPRS with FEC (Repetitive Side Reaching Test, Repetitive Overhead Reaching Test, Static Over Head work Test, Two Hand Carrying Test)
Conclusion
Overall, the present study demonstrates that several functional capacity measures are negatively associated with pain and disability in individuals with neck pain. The strongest and most consistent findings were observed for the two-hand carrying test, which demonstrated significant negative correlations with resting pain, activity-related pain, and NDI. Repetitive side reaching, repetitive overhead reaching, static overhead work, and right hand waist-to-overhead lifting also demonstrated significant negative relationships with selected pain or disability measures.

Chronic Neck Pain, Neck Disability Index, Disability, Pain, Functional Evaluation Capacity.

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