Myotome Assessment for Cervical Radiculopathy

👉 Watch the full video on our Physiotytors App or YouTube channel 🎥📺✨ Myotome assessment is an essential part of a neurological examination when suspecting radiculopathy, as changes in muscle strength within a specific myotome may help you identify the pathological disc level. In the case of the cervical spine, the most common causes of nerve root pathology are herniated discs, which account for about 20% to 25% of cases, and degenerative disc disease, which accounts for 70% to 75%. While herniated discs, also known as soft disc lesions, are rather seen in younger patients, degenerative disc disease, or hard disc lesions, primarily occurs in the older population. The highest incidence for cervical nerve root pathology is found on spinal segments C5-6 and C6-7. In their systematic review from 2017, Le Mounier et al. reported that a complete peripheral neurological examination when suspecting cervical radiculopathy has a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 28%. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 1.15 and 0.6 respectively, which is why we attribute this assessment a rather weak clinical value, but it is still the best tool we have. #Physiotutorsapp #Physiotutors #clinicalpatterns #learning #dpt