Tests of functional limitations in fibromyalgia syndrome: A reliability study

✍ Scribed by Mannerkorpi, Kaisa ;Svantesson, Ulla ;Carlsson, Jane ;Ekdahl, Charlotte

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 132 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/1529-0131(199906)12:3<193::aid-art6>3.0.co;2-n

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To evaluate the reliability and discriminative ability of a test battery consisting of 7 tests designed for the assessment of functional limitations in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (fms).

Methods:

The intrarater reliability of the test battery was evaluated for 15 women with fms. interrater reliability was calculated on 4 tests separately. fifteen healthy women constituted a reference group.

Results:

The intrarater coefficient of variation was < 8% for the shoulder range of motion tests, chair test, and 6-minute walk test, and < 21% for the shoulder endurance test, with correlation coefficients above 0.80 for all tests. kappa was 0.70-0.80 for the hand-to-scapula tests. the interrater coefficient of variation was < 5% for shoulder range of motion. the performances of the fms patients were significantly decreased in comparison with healthy subjects in all the tests except for the hand-to-scapula movement.

Conclusions:

All but 1 of the selected 7 tests were considered to possess acceptable intrarater reliability for use in fms in clinical physical therapy practice.