In the context of cervical spondylotic myelopathy, it is essential that the scale also addresses the pathophysiology, its key signs and symptoms as well as its natural history.

see European myelopathy score.

see Modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association scale.

see Neck Disability Index.

see Nurick scale.

Macnab criteria

A systematic review, yielded 5,745 citations. Of these, 37 met inclusion criteria, 10 explored the ability of a scale to detect myelopathy, 23 examined validity by assessing correlation between scales, 10 reported reliability, 8 analyzed responsiveness, and 6 discussed internal consistency. The most frequently reported scale was short form SF-36 (n = 16) followed by Nurick scale (n = 14), Japanese Orthopaedic Association (n = 13), Modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association scale (n = 7) and grip and release test (n = 6). Four studies each presented results on the Cooper, Harsh and 30-m walking test ¹⁾.

Existing scores for functional grading of patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), such as the Nurick scale and modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association scale (mJOA), do not address certain culture-specific activities of the Indian population while grading patients with CSM.

A proposed Indian modifications of Nurick grade and mJOA scale that incorporate the ethnic practices of the Indian population and some Asian population are better discriminators of different levels of functional ability among patients with CSM in this population, as compared to the existing Nurick grading and mJOA scale ²⁾.