The following is a summary of “Reliability of a clinical sensory test battery in patients with spine-related leg and arm pain,” published in the March 2024 issue of Pain by Bender et al.
Clinical sensory testing (CST) is being developed as an alternative to standard quantitative sensory testing for evaluating somatosensory dysfunctions.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess how consistently testers could identify pain mechanisms in patients with spine-related leg and arm pain (mixed pain mechanisms) using a CST battery.
They conducted three CST sessions with 53 patients experiencing spine-related leg (n=41) and arm pain (n=12). The CST battery included eleven tests assessing sensory nerve function changes. One investigator performed CST twice, and another joined to assess inter- and intra-tester reliability. Fleiss’ kappa was calculated for inter-tester reliability, Cohen’s kappa for intra-tester reliability, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for continuous outcomes.
The results showed that Fleiss’ kappa ranged from fair to substantial across modalities (κ = 0.23–0.66). Cold, warm, and vibration detection thresholds and cold and pressure pain thresholds achieved kappa values >0.4 (moderate to substantial reliability). Cohen’s kappa varied from mild to significant (κ = 0.45–0.66). Windup ratio reliability was poor (ICC < 0.18).
Investigators concluded that several CST modalities offered reliable results, suggesting their potential as screening tools for tracking somatosensory changes in patients with mixed-mechanism spine pain.
Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejp.2267
