The reliability of a 10-test package for patients with prolonged back and neck pain: could an examiner without formal medical education be used without loss of quality? A methodological study

摘要

BackgroundIn the rehabilitation of patients with prolonged back and neck pain, the physical impairment should be assessed. Previous research has exclusively engaged medically educated examiners, mostly physiotherapists. However, less biased evaluations of efforts at rehabilitation might be achieved by personnel standing outside the treatment work itself. Therefore, if medically untrained examiners could be used without cost to the quality, this might produce a better evaluation at defensible cost and could also be useful in a research context. The aim of this study was to answer the question: given a 10-test package for patients with prolonged back and neck pain, could an examiner without formal medical education be used without loss of quality? Five of the ten tests required the examiner to keep a firm hold against the foundation of those parts of the participant's body that were not supposed to move during the test.