Reliability and Validity of A Novel Device for Evaluating the Cervical Proprioception

INTRODUCTION: In clinical practice, cervical proprioception is usually evaluated by calculating the cervical joint position error (JPE) with laser pointer devices (LPD) or cervical range-of-motion (CROM) instruments. As technology continues to improve, more and more advanced tools are used to evaluate cervical proprioception. The purpose of this study was to analyze the reliability and validity of the WitMotion sensor (WS) device in evaluating cervical proprioception, and to explore a cheaper, more convenient, and more practical testing tool. METHODS: Twenty-eight healthy participants (16 women, 12 men; age 25–66 years) were recruited and evaluated for cervical joint position error with a WS and LPD by two independent observers. All participants repositioned their head to the target position and the deviation of repositioning was calculated using these two instruments. The intra- and inter-rater reliability of the instrument were determined by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and the validity was analyzed by calculating the ICC and the Spearman’s correlation. RESULTS: The intra-rater reliability of the WS (ICCs = 0.682–0.774) was higher than that of the LPD (ICCs = 0.512–0.719) for measuring JPE of cervical flexion, right lateral flexion, and left rotation. However, the LPD (ICCs = 0.767–0.796) outperformed the WS (ICCs = 0.507–0.661) in cervical extension, left lateral flexion, and right rotation. For the inter-rater reliability, the ICC values obtained by the WS and the LPD were above 0.70 for all cervical movements except cervical extension and left lateral flexion (ICCs = 0.580–0.679). For the validity, the ICC values were moderate to good (ICCs > 0.614) for measuring JPE in all movements with the WS and the LPD. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the high ICC values of reliability and validity, the novel device can be an alternative tool to evaluate cervical proprioception in clinical practice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100047228).