• Mark A Williams, Esther Williamson, Simon Gates, and Matthew W Cooke.
• Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. m.a.williams.3@warwick.ac.uk
• Eur Spine J. 2012 May 1; 21 (5): 872-8.

PurposeThe objective of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of the cervical range of motion device when measuring both active and passive range of motion in a group of individuals with sub-acute Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD).MethodsParticipants were recruited as part of a large multi-centre Randomised Controlled Trial from UK emergency departments. Experienced research physiotherapists measured active and passive cervical spine movements in all directions. Both intra- and inter-observer reliability and agreement were assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient, standard error of measurement and limits of agreement methods.ResultsDifferent groups of 39 and 19 subjects were included in the intra and inter-observer studies, respectively. The CROM device demonstrated substantial intra- and inter-observer reliability and agreement for all the active and passive half-cycle movements (ICC range 0.82-0.99) with the exception of one (passive right lateral flexion for inter-observer; ICC 0.77).ConclusionsThe CROM device has proven to be a reproducible measurement method for a symptomatic WAD population using the measurement protocol described and can be used with confidence to differentiate individuals according to a single measurement.

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