Last update:
   22-Nov-2025
 

Arch Hellen Med, 43(1), January-February 2026, 94-100

ORIGINAL PAPER

Validity and reliability of body maps for the assessment of pain distribution in patients with chronic neck pain

Ζ. Dimitriadis,1 Ν. Konstantinou,1 D. Karageorgiou,1 E. Kapreli,2 A. Kanellopoulos,1 I. Poulis,3 E. Tsipra,4 J. Oldham,5 N. Strimpakos1
1Laboratory of Health Assessment and Quality of Life, Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Lamia
2Laboratory of Clinical Exercise Physiology and Rehabilitation, Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Lamia
3Laboratory of Human Performance and Rehabilitation, Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Lamia
4Clinic of Physiorelax Physiotherapy, Peristeri, Attica, Greece
5Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

OBJECTIVE The investigation of the test-retest and inter-rater reliability of digital and paper body maps for recording pain distribution in patients with chronic neck pain.

METHOD Two different raters completed one digital (pain distribution analysis software) and three paper body maps (Margolis, body grid, and Michigan body map) based on the pain distribution (pain extent and location) that had been previously recorded in 45 patients with idiopathic chronic neck pain. One of the two raters completed (again) the four different body maps one month after their initial completion.

RESULTS In terms of pain extent, test-retest reliability of the body maps was found to be good to excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]=0.76–0.92), whereas their inter-rater reliability was found to be moderate to excellent (ICC=0.59–0.92). In terms of pain location, it was found that there was a very good to excellent test-retest (84.4–100%) and inter-rater (77–100%) agreement. The correlations between all the pain distribution indices were significantly strong to very strong (r=0.74–0.99).

CONCLUSIONS Paper and digital body maps can offer reliable estimates of pain distribution in patients with idiopathic chronic neck pain.

Key words: Agreement, Pain extent, Pain location, Reliability, Validity.

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