The Concomitant Use of Physician Diagnosis and the Comprehensive Muscular Activity Profile (CMAP): Significant Implications for Case Closure, Costs, and Pain Ratings of Patient's With Musculoskeletal Injuries

摘要

The degree of physical impairment, often due to a soft-tissue injury, is an important firststep in evaluating musculoskeletal pain disorders in a workers' compensation population.The Comprehensive Muscular Activity Profile (CMAP) is a recent innovation for measuringsuch soft tissue injuries. A total of 114 consecutive patients with musculoskeletal painclaims were evaluated by medical examination and CMAP administration. Results indi-cated a 6.8 times increase in the odds of case closure when there was concordance betweenCMAP results and the physician's independent diagnoses. There was also a significant reduction of overall medical costs after the CMAP was conducted. These preliminaryfindings indicate good clinical utility for the CMAP. Implications and additional interpre-tations of these results are discussed.