Clinimetrics: Neck Disability Index
Caitlin Jones, Michele Sterling
Abstract
The Neck Disability Index (NDI) is the most widely used assessment tool measuring disability due to acute and chronic neck pain or neck injury. 1 , 2 It has been recommended in both Australian and international guidelines as a suitable tool for the assessment of patients with acute whiplash-associated disorders and other neck pain. 345 It can also be used to monitor the effects of treatments over time and to classify chronic whiplash-associated disorder recovery status. 6The NDI is a modification of the Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Index, 7 and consists of 10 items: pain intensity, personal care, lifting, reading, headaches, concentration, work, driving, sleeping and recreation. The patient rates the impact of their neck pain by ticking one of six boxes on a Likert scale. The tool takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes for the patient to self-administer and requires no special training. 2 The tool is free to access and can be printed from the Internet.