Cervical zygapophyseal joint pain patterns. II: A clinical evaluation.

To test the predictive value of segmental pain charts, ten patients with suspected cervical zygapophyseal pain were studied. Their pain distribution was recorded on a body diagram, and using pain charts derived from studies on normal volunteers, predictions were made by two observers of the segmental location of the symptomatic joint. Correct predictions were made in all nine patients who were shown to have symptomatic joints on the basis of diagnostic joint blocks. The results vindicate the accuracy of pain charts for predicting the segmental location of symptomatic joints in patients with cervical joint pain.