Measurement of Outcomes for patients with centralizing vs . non - centralizing neck pain

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine whether individuals with neck pain who demonstrate centralization of symptoms have more favorable outcome than individuals who do not demonstrate centralization. Methods: Eleven subjects with neck pain were evaluated and treated by two physical therapists certified in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT). Eleven physical therapy patients underwent a routine initial evaluation and were treated 2-3x per week using MDT principles and other physical therapy interventions. The Neck Disability Index (NDI) tool was administered at the initial examination, approximately 2 weeks following the initial examination, each subsequent re-evaluation, and at discharge from the study to measure changes in functional outcomes for each subject. Patients continued with treatments until they were discharged or removed from the study. Four subjects were referred back to their physician by treating physical therapist secondary to non-centralization and worsening of symptoms. Results: Of the 11 subjects, 6 demonstrated centralization (CEN) and 5 demonstrated noncentralization (NC). At initial evaluation, the average NDI score for the CEN group was 51.0 (SD +/19.4) and 56.4 (SD +/17.6) for the NC group. For the CEN group, the average change in NDI score between initial evaluation and discharge was 41.2 (SD +/13.2 and 12.2 (SD +/13.0) for the NC group. The correlation coefficient of CEN and change in NDI score was .772 and was statistically significant (P=0.005). Conclusions: In this limited sample, people with neck pain demonstrated more favorable outcomes when the CEN phenomenon was observed. Future research on CEN should be investigated with a larger sample size and with a greater number of clinicians trained in the MDT approach.