International journal of clinical practice
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Apr 2003
Multicenter StudyA simple questionnaire to detect hypermobility: an adjunct to the assessment of patients with diffuse musculoskeletal pain.
The aim of the study was to develop a simple and reproducible self-reporting questionnaire that identifies individuals with hypermobility. Two hundred and twelve consecutive hypermobile female new attendees to the hypermobility clinic at two London teaching hospitals and a random selection of 57 healthy volunteers completed a 10-part questionnaire. Questions were selected from clinical experience (RG), and assessed musculoskeletal symptoms and past and present physical agility. ⋯ The sensitivity and specificity was 84% and 89% respectively in the first cohort and reproduced with values of 84% and 80% in the second cohort. Overall the questionnaire correctly identified 84% of all cases and controls. This simple and reproducible questionnaire for detecting hypermobility could be of particular use as an adjunct in the clinical assessment of chronic, diffuse pain syndromes where hypermobility is often missed yet is potentially treatable.