Table 3.
Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score for patients with cervical myelopathy
| Motor function |
| Upper extremity |
| The thumb and fingers |
| 0 [Complete disturbance] The patient cannot use chopsticks or a spoon/fork, and cannot fasten a button on his or her own. |
| 1 [Severe disturbance] The patient cannot use chopsticks or write, and can barely use a spoon/fork. |
| 2 [Moderate disturbance] The patient can pick up a large object with chopsticks but can hardly write. He/she can fasten a large button. |
| 3 [Slight disturbance] The patient makes awkward use of chopsticks, writes in a clumsy manner, but can fasten buttons on his/her shirt. |
| 4 [Normal] Normal |
| Shoulder/elbow function |
| –2 [Severe disturbance] The muscle strength of the deltoid muscle or the brachial muscle evaluated by manual muscle testing (MMT) was graded as ≤2. |
| –1 [Moderate disturbance] The muscle strength of the deltoid muscle or the brachial muscle evaluated by MMT was graded as 3. |
| –0.5 [Slight disturbance] The muscle strength of the deltoid muscle or the brachial muscle evaluated by MMT was graded as 4. |
| 0 [Normal] The muscle strength of the deltoid muscle or the brachial muscle evaluated by MMT was graded as 5. Lower extremity |
| 0 [complete disturbance] The patient cannot stand or walk alone. |
| (0.5 The patient can stand up.) |
| 1 [Severe disturbance] The patient needs support to walk on a flat surface. |
| (1.5 The patient can walk on a flat surface without any support but the walking is not stable.) |
| 2 [Moderate disturbance] The patient can walk on a flat surface without any support, but needs a handrail to walk up and down stairs. |
| (2.5 The patient can walk on a flat surface without any support, but needs a handrail only to walk down stairs.) |
| 3 [Slight disturbance] The patient can walk fast, although awkwardly. |
| 4 [Normal] Normal |
| Sensory function |
| Upper extremity |
| 0 [Severe disturbance] Complete sensory loss (touch sensation, pain sensation) |
| (0.5 Partial sensory loss ≤5/10 (touch sensation, pain sensation); intolerable pain or numbness) |
| 1 [Moderate disturbance] Partial sensory loss ≥6/10 (touch sensation, pain sensation); numbness and hypersensitivity. |
| (1.5 [Slight disturbance] Slight numbness (normal sensation)) |
| 2 [Normal] Normal |
| Trunk |
| 0 [Severe disturbance] Complete sensory loss (touch sensation, pain sensation) |
| (0.5 Partial sensory loss ≤5/10 (touch sensation, pain sensation); intolerable pain and numbness) |
| 1 [Moderate disturbance] Partial sensory loss ≥6/10 (touch sensation, pain sensation); numbness and hypersensitivity. |
| (1.5 [Slight disturbance] Slight numbness (normal sensation)) |
| 2 [Normal] Normal |
| Lower extremity |
| 0 [Severe disturbance] Complete sensory loss (touch sensation, pain sensation) |
| (0.5 Partial sensory loss ≤5/10 (touch sensation, pain sensation); intolerable pain and numbness) |
| 1 [Moderate disturbance] Partial sensory loss ≥6/10 (touch sensation, pain sensation); numbness and hypersensitivity. |
| (1.5 [Slight disturbance] Slight numbness (normal sensation)) |
| 2 [Normal] Normal |
| Urinary bladder function |
| 0 [Severe disturbance] Urinary retention, incontinence |
| 1 [Moderate disturbance] Feeling of residual urine, straining of oneself, dull urination, elongation of urination (retarded urination), urinary incontinence |
| 2 [Slight disturbance] Retarded urination, pollakisuria |
| 3 [Normal] normal |
| Total 17 |