Determining the reliability of craniocervical flexion test in asymptomatic individuals

BACKGROUND: The inter-rater reliability of the craniocervical flexion test (CCFT) has not been established. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the intra-rater and inter-rater reliabilities of the CCFT in asymptomatic subjects. METHODS: Sixty asymptomatic subjects were randomly selected for the study. The CCFT was measured on each subject by two testers for inter-rater reliability and by one of the testers after a gap of seven days for the intra-rater reliability. Before testing, the participants were trained for the movement and compensations were corrected. RESULTS: The CCFT has high inter-rater reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient [Formula: see text] 0.907, standard error of mean [Formula: see text] 0.735) and high intra-rater reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient [Formula: see text] 0.986, standard error of mean [Formula: see text] 0.287). A Bland & Altman limits of agreement analysis has confirmed the high inter- and intra-rater reliabilities of the test. CONCLUSION: The CCFT has high inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities in asymptomatic subjects.