Functioning Characteristics of Patients with Neck Pain: ICF Concept Based

Purpose: This study examine the functioning level and quality of life (QoL) of people with non-specific neck pain and neck pain with radiculopathy using the neck disability index (NDI), functional rating index (FRI), and short form of health survey 36 (SF-36) and each of linked lCF code lists of those scales. Methods: Each item of the NDI, FRI, and SF-36 were linked conceptually to the ICF code, and the lCF code lists of those scales were produced as iNDI, iFRI, and iSF-36, respectively. Seventy-nine patients with neck pain filled the instruments and its linked ICF code lists. The subjects were divided into two groups based on the diagnosis, non-specific neck pain (Group1), and neck pain with radiculopathy (Group2). A group comparison was performed using an independent t-test. The Pearson correlation coefficient was also used to analyze the relationships between each scale and the linked ICF code list. Results: The participants in Group 2 experienced more difficulties in their daily activities than those in Group 2 when examined in NDI and FRI (p<0.05). This result was also found consistently in the ICF code lists, iNDI and iFRI (p=0.05). On the other hand, the QoL did not show a difference between groups (p=0.06). A strong correlation was observed between the instruments and linked ICF code lists: NDI and iNDI (r=0.90), FRI and iFRI (r=0.91), and SF-36 and iSF-36 (r=-0.61). Conclusion: These findings suggest that the concept of each item in NDI and FRI could be linked to the ICF codes when examining patients with neck pain, but the items of SF-36 were found to be linked and expressed in ICF.