Clinical Relevance of Changes in Pain Intensity in Patients with Specific Back Pain

Abstract Background Pain intensity is frequently measured on the 11-point numerical pain rating scale (NRS-PI), ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 points (worst imaginable pain). However, it is difficult to interpret the clinical importance of changes from baseline to endpoint on this instrument. Objectives To estimate the minimal detectable change (MDC) and the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for average pain intensity in patients with specific back pain. Materials and Methods Data on 1232 subjects with specific back pain from a German hospital were included in this study. A score combining the patie…