First rib dysfunction in patients with neck and shoulder pain: a Delphi investigation

Upper Vascular Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: A Case Study

Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is recognised in approximately 8% of the population. Vascular presentation is rare and diagnosis is often elusive due to its rarity. As episodes of TOS in the upper extremities are rare, proven protocols for rehabilitation management are lacking. The purpose of our article is to present a clinical examination protocol and a treatment protocol for patients after an episode of venous thrombosis in the upper limb (VTOS). We report the case of a middle-aged woman with right venous TOS with pain in the right upper extremity, accompanied by oedema and mild violet discolouration. The results after 10 sessions of physiotherapy were as follows: a reduction in symptoms of approximately 40%, an improvement of approximately 15% in sports performance, and an improvement of approximately 25% in work. There was also an improvement in the results of TOS provocation tests, i.e., a 50-100% improvement in pulse rate and about 30% less discolouration in the extremity. Additionally, there was a significant improvement in posture between the two sides of the upper quadrant. The results after 10 physiotherapy sessions are surprising due to chronic disease after the thrombosis episode. It appears that even after a long period of time since diagnosis, improvement is possible.

Intra and inter observer agreement in the mobility assessment of the upper thoracic costovertebral joints

BACKGROUND

Determining the mobility of the costovertebral joints might be important in patients with neck-upper thoracic pain. Little research has been performed on observer agreement when assessing the mobility of these joints.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to determine intra- and inter-observer agreements when assessing costovertebral joint mobility of the upper three ribs in those with and without neck pain and to compare the difference between the Kappa and AC statistic.

METHODS

Forty-four participants, with and without current neck/upper-thoracic pain, were assessed by two raters. Raters applied a posterior to anterior pressure to the anatomical neck of the first three ribs bilaterally. Mobility was graded: normal, increased, or decreased. An AC1, for nominal data, AC2 for ordinal data, and the Kappa statistics were used to analyze the results. The AC statistics determines chance agreement different than Kappa.

RESULTS

AC1 showed "moderate to very good" (0.74-1.0) intra-rater reliability, while inter-rater reliability showed "fair to good" agreement (0.51-0.79). Using the AC2 Intra-rater reliability was "very good" and "almost perfect" (AC2: 0.93-1.0), while using the AC2 was "good to very good" and "good to almost perfect" (0.76-0.94). Kappa values for intra-rater reliability ranged from "fair to moderate" (0.38-0.54), while inter-rater reliability ranged from "poor to fair" (-0.10-0.26).

CONCLUSION

Posterior/anterior pressure is a reliable method to assess the mobility of the upper costovertebral joints. Assessing costovertebral mobility is important when establishing a movement diagnosis in patients with neck/upper thoracic pain.