Diagnostic accuracy of patient interview items and clinical tests for cervical radiculopathy

Key Points

1. If the patient’s arm pain is worse than their neck pain, their symptoms are increased when ironing and reduced by walking with their hand in their pocket, this increases the likelihood of cervical radiculopathy.

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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Currently, there are no agreed criteria to diagnose cervical radiculopathy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of patient interview items and clinical tests performed by a physiotherapist to diagnose cervical radiculopathy. In this paper, radiculopathy was considered to encompass all signs and symptoms that could occur due to nerve root compression, including both radiculopathy (referring to objective neurological deficits) as well as those presenting with radicular pain (which occurs in consequence of inflammation or compression of a nerve root).

Currently, there are no agreed criteria to diagnose cervical radiculopathy.

The information from this study should help clinicians make decisions on the best conservative management options and the need for referral for further investigations.

METHODS

134 patients with a median pain duration of 22 weeks were included in the study, and 66 (49%) were later diagnosed with cervical radiculopathy by a neurosurgeon. This diagnosis was based on both the patient presentation and relevant MRI results

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