Disability Rating Index Research Articles

Pain, coping, emotional state and physical function in patients with chronic radicular neck pain. A comparison between patients treated with surgery, physiotherapy or neck collar - a blinded, prospective randomized study

Purpose: To describe and explore the relationships between pain, emotional state and coping strategies in patients with chronic radicular neck pain before and after surgery or conservative treatments. Methods: We randomize 81 conseutive patients with cervical radicular pain and nerve root compression, verified by MRI, to either surgical decompression with fusion or physiotherapy or neck collar. Emotional state was both measured with Mood Adjective Check List, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and with a Coping Strategies Questionnaire. Pain was measured with VAS and function with Disability Index Rating. Measurements were made before treatment, and follow ups after 3 and 12 months post treatment. Results: We found generally a low emotional state with anxiety, depression and sleep-disturbances not only connected to pain. Pain improved faster in the surgery group but after one year no differences were seen. Surgery and physiotherapy improved function with heavy work compared to collar after 3 months. Many patients used active coping before treatment, but after treatment more passive coping strategies were found. Conclusion: We recommend a multidisciplinary rehabilitation with cognitive behavioural therapy and psychological interventions.

A prospective randomized study comparing acupuncture with physiotherapy for low‐back and pelvic pain in pregnancy

The aim of this study was to describe the effects of acupuncture in the treatment of low-back and pelvic pain during pregnancy and compare it with physiotherapy. Sixty pregnant women were allotted to acupuncture or physiotherapy. The women estimated the severity of their pain using a visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 to 10 and disability in performing twelve common daily activities using a disability-rating index (DRI) from 0 to 10. In the acupuncture group all 30 women completed the study (two exclusions), in the physiotherapy group only 18. Before treatment the two study groups were rather similar with respect to pain and disability. After treatment the mean morning VAS had declined from 3.4 to 0.9 (p<0.01) in the acupuncture group and from 3.7 to 2.3 (NS) in the physiotherapy group. The corresponding evening values had declined from 7.4 to 1.7 (p<0.01) and 6.6 to 4.5 (p<0.01), respectively. The mean VAS values were lower after acupuncture than after physiotherapy both in the morning (p=0.02) and in the evening (p<0.01). After treatment also the mean DRI values had decreased significantly in the acupuncture group for 11 of 12 activities and the values were significantly lower for all activities than in the physiotherapy group where no significant changes had taken place. Overall satisfaction was good in both groups. There were no serious adverse events in any of the patients. Acupuncture relieved pain and diminished disability in low-back pain during pregnancy better than physiotherapy.

Correlations between Ratings of Pain, Disability and Impairment in Chronic Whiplash‐Associated Disorder

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the level of correlation among pain, disability and physical impairment scores in chronic whiplash‐associated disorder patients.SUBJECTS: Adults with chronic whiplash‐associated disorder referred for secondary independent assessment.METHODS: Forty‐four subjects (16 males, 28 females) were included in the sample. Self‐rated pain was measured on a five‐point verbal rating scale. Self‐rated disability was measured using the Neck Disability Index (NDI) and the Disability Rating Index (DRI). Physical impairment was measured as active cervical ranges of motion obtained with a cap goniometer. Descriptive statistics were reported and Pearson product moment correlations were obtained with the P value at 0.01.RESULTS: Mean ± SD age of the subjects was 36.4±8.7 years. Mean duration of complaint was 15.2±12.3 months. Mean pain score out of 5 was 2.5±1.2. Mean NDI and DRI scores were 23.2±9.3 out of 50 and 21.6±9.1 out of 48, respectively. These scores correlated very highly (r=0.89, P=0.0001). The average reduction of ranges of motion compared with published norms was approximately 25%. The correlations among ranges of motion, NDI, DRI and pain scores ranged from ‐0.32 to ‐0.66 (P&lt;0.05 to P=0.0001). Age and duration of complaint correlated poorly with ranges of motion.CONCLUSIONS: The self‐ratings of pain and disability obtained from these chronic whiplash‐associated disorder sufferers appear to be consistent with, and correlate reasonably well with, levels of physical impairment. Physical impairment ratings do not appear to correlate well with duration, which suggests that factors related to pain and physical impairment may play an important role in the development of chronicity in whiplash‐associated disorder.

The disability rating index: An instrument for the assessment of disability in clinical settings

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an instrument for assessment of physical disability, mainly intended for clinical settings, the Disability Rating Index (DRI). Healthy persons ( n = 1092), both white and blue collar workers, and patients ( n = 366) with different levels of physical capacity, were assessed. Most of the patients ( n = 303) underwent rehabilitation programmes for neck/shoulder/low-back pain but some ( n = 47) were arthritis patients waiting for hip or knee replacement surgery, or wheelchair patients with multiple sclerosis ( n = 16). The reliability was investigated by test-retest studies, intra- and inter-rater and internal consistency studies. Five construct validity tests were carried out: a discrimination study; a converging validity test; a test for sensitivity to small alterations in health status; and two correlational validity tests. Correlation of the self-reported DRI to the actual performance in similar activities was carried out. Responsiveness was tested by correlation of the DRI before/after replacement surgery for arthritis. The test-retest correlations were 0.83–0.95 in the studies, including correlation of different versions. The intra- and inter-rater reproducibility was 0.98 and 0.99 respectively. The Kruskal-Wallis test in the discrimination study yielded p < 0.0001. More than 90% of the respondents completed the questionnaire correctly. Correlation of the DRI to the Functional Status Questionnaire was 0.46. The responsiveness was excellent, p = 0.0001. The DRI proved to be a robust, practical clinical and research instrument with good responsiveness and acceptability for assessment of disability caused by impairment of common motor functions.