The ODI remains a valid and vigorous measure and has been a worthwhile outcome measure .
The behavior of the instrument is incompletely understood , particularly in sensitivity to real change .
The Oswestry Disability Index ( ODI ) has become one of the principal condition-specific outcome measures used in the management of spinal disorders .
To review the versions of this instrument , document methods by which it has been vali date d , collate data from scores found in normal and back pain population s , provide curves for power calculations in studies using the ODI , and maintain the ODI as a gold st and ard outcome measure .
It has now been 20 years since its original publication .
Function and the patient with chronic low back pain.
OBJECTIVE To undertake a comparative examination of the reliability and validity of two frequently used self-report measures of functional disability , the Pain Disability Index  ( PDI ) and the Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Question naire  ( OLBPDQ ) . DESIGN A descriptive ex-post facto design was used in the study . SETTING Pain clinics and neurosurgical units at three metropolitan hospitals . SUBJECTS One hundred patients with chronic low back pain of noncancer origin were administered the two question naires as part of a larger question naire battery . RESULTS Acceptable internal consistency values of 0.76 for the PDI and 0.71 for the OLBPDQ were obtained . A correlation of r = 0.63 was found between the PDI and the OLBPDQ , supporting the concurrent validity of the two scales . Both the scales were found to be correlated to the Beck Depression Inventory scores ( PDI , r = 0.42 ; OLBPDQ , r = 0.39 ) , with higher disability associated with greater depression . Only the total PDI score was found to be sensitive to functional status differences within the patient sample . CONCLUSIONS These findings support other recent work in favor of the PDI . The PDI had a slightly higher internal consistency and was more sensitive than the OLBPDQ
The ODI remains a valid and vigorous measure and has been a worthwhile outcome measure .
The behavior of the instrument is incompletely understood , particularly in sensitivity to real change .
The Oswestry Disability Index ( ODI ) has become one of the principal condition-specific outcome measures used in the management of spinal disorders .
To review the versions of this instrument , document methods by which it has been vali date d , collate data from scores found in normal and back pain population s , provide curves for power calculations in studies using the ODI , and maintain the ODI as a gold st and ard outcome measure .
It has now been 20 years since its original publication .