A new questionnaire has been developed to assess the severity of leg pain and evaluated to determine whether it offered measurement advantages over the JOA score. Thirty-one patients who suffer from leg pain due to lumbar soinal disorders were included in this study. The questionnaire is divided into eight sections (pain intensity, numbness, rest pain, sleeping, the effect of analgesics, walking, standing, and social life). The questionnaire score was compared with the JOA score.
The total questionnaire score correlated well with the JOA score (p=0.0344). Each individual score in all but two sections also correlated with the leg pain score in the JOA socre. The rest pain score (p=0.9731) and the sleeping score (p=0.2498) did not correlate with the JOA leg pain score.
The results of this study suggest that it is difficult to evaluate sleep disturbance and rest pain only with the JOA score. Since both symptoms are often related to compression of the dorsal root ganglion, they should not be ignored when diagnosing and treating patients with lumbar spinal disorders.