Validation of the QuickDASH (Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand) in Patients with Neck Pain

Purpose Many patients with neck pain have upper limb disorders, and prolonged use of computers at work commonly induces neck/shoulder pain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the QuickDASH in patients with neck pain. Methods A total of 189 patients with neck pain were included in reliability and validity studies. The reliability studies of the QuickDASH included internal consistency and test–retest reliability. The validity studies for the QuickDASH included the convergent and divergent validities, and EFA and CFA were used to examine the structural validity. Results The QuickDASH indicated that most participants (83.6%) had upper limb disorders, and it had a slight floor effect (16.4%). For reliability, the internal consistency (Cα = 0.945) and test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.98; SEM = 3.17, and MDC = 8.79) were excellent. For validity, the convergent and divergent validities were satisfactory. The QuickDASH had moderate to high correlations to the Neck Disability Index, VAS of the arm, and the Physical Component Summary of the SF-36 (rho = 0.80, 0.56 and − 0.62, respectively) and was not associated with age or disease duration. EFA revealed that two factors of the QuickDASH (Function-factor and Symptom-factor) explained 80.9% of the variance, and CFA confirmed the two-factor model. Conclusion The QuickDASH is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing upper limb disorders in patients with neck pain.