Reliability and diagnostic validity of the slump knee bend neurodynamic test for upper/mid XXXX : a pilot study.

@entity1 @entity3129 @entity614 @entity158
OBJECTIVES: It has been proposed that neurodynamic examination can assist differential diagnosis of upper/mid @entity614 ; however, the diagnostic validity of many of these tests has yet to be established. This pilot study aimed to establish the diagnostic validity of the slump knee bend neurodynamic test for upper/mid @entity614 in subjects with suspected @entity158 . DESIGN: Two independent examiners performed the slump knee bend test on subjects with radicular leg @entity158 . Inter-tester reliability was calculated using the kappa coefficient. Slump knee bend test results were compared with magnetic resonance imaging findings, and diagnostic accuracy measures were calculated including sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and likelihood ratios. SETTING: Orthopaedic spinal clinic, secondary care. @entity1 : Sixteen @entity1 with radicular leg @entity158 . RESULTS: All four subjects with mid @entity614 on magnetic resonance imaging were correctly identified with the slump knee bend test; however, it was falsely positive in two individuals without the condition. Inter-tester reliability for the slump knee bend test using the kappa coefficient was 0.71 (95% confidence interval 0.33 to 1.0). @entity3129 for the slump knee bend test (95% confidence intervals) were: sensitivity, 100% (40 to 100%); specificity, 83% (52 to 98%); positive predictive value, 67% (22 to 96%); negative predictive value, 100% (69 to 100%); positive likelihood ratio, 6.0 (1.58 to 19.4); and negative likelihood ratio, 0 (0 to 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate good inter-tester reliability and suggest that the slump knee bend test has potential to be a useful clinical test for identifying @entity1 with mid @entity614 . Further investigation is needed on larger numbers of @entity1 to confirm these findings.
