Chronic neck pain and its association with neck disability

Objectives: To assess the relationship of pain intensity, and duration of pain with the degree of neck disability in patients with chronic neck pain.
Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 384 patients, (females-77.6%) aged 20-69 years, diagnosed with chronic neck pain (>3 months). Pain intensity was measured using a 101-point numeric rating scale. Pain duration was recorded in months. Pain radiating into the arms was considered positive when the participant reported that the pain extended beyond the neck region into one or both arms. Neck disability was assessed using the Modified Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Index (MODI).  The correlation and strength of associations of pain intensity, and pain duration with neck disability were assessed and further analysed for each of the subgroup (socioeconomic and health related factors: leisure time physical activity, BMI, pain radiating to arm, cervical intervertebral disc degeneration) to determine the possible variations across the subgroups.
Results: A strong positive correlation was found between pain intensity and neck disability (r=0.63). There was no significant correlation found between neck pain duration and degree of neck disability due to neck pain. Patients aged 40-69 years, who have sedentary leisure time and moderate or severe cervical intervertebral disc degeneration revealed a strong positive correlation between intensity of pain and neck disability, whereas patients who were overweight or obese exhibited a very strong positive correlation.
Conclusion: Pain intensity is a strong indicator for measuring the neck disability, while pain duration is a poor indicator.