Musculoskeletal Scale [MS-21]

Brief Description

The Musculoskeletal Scale (MS-21) is an assessment instrument used to examine the frequency, severity, and impact of musculoskeletal symptoms across different areas of the body. The scale focuses mainly on pain experienced in specific joints or groups of joints and allows respondents to quantify how often such symptoms occur.

Assessment of musculoskeletal symptoms can provide useful information about the physical burden experienced by an individual and may contribute to a more systematic understanding of problems involving the musculoskeletal system.

Aim

The primary aim of the MS-21 is to assess and understand the frequency, severity, and consequences of symptoms related to the musculoskeletal system in different areas of the body.

The scale may help researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals gain a clearer picture of the musculoskeletal problems experienced by participants.

Its findings may also be used to examine the relationship between musculoskeletal symptoms and functional status and to support the development of appropriate management or treatment strategies.

Scoring

Participants are asked to indicate how often they have experienced pain in specific joints or groups of joints using a 10-point frequency scale:

1 = Rarely
to
10 = Very frequently.

The source material states that a total of 21 joints or joint groups were assessed. For the calculation of mean responses, a smaller subset of these 21 areas was used, in correspondence with the PILL scale.

A criterion was applied whereby a joint or joint group was selected if at least 10 respondents had provided a score greater than 1. A score of 1 indicated that pain in that specific area had been experienced rarely.

The source explicitly describes this as an arbitrary criterion used in that particular analysis, and it should therefore not automatically be regarded as a general scoring rule for the scale.

Data Analysis

Analysis of the results may focus on the frequency of musculoskeletal pain across different body areas and on the overall symptom burden experienced by the respondent.

Scores can be used descriptively to compare the frequency of symptoms across different joints or joint groups.

In research settings, the resulting scores may also be examined in relation to other variables concerning health, functioning, or characteristics of the study population, depending on the design of the study.

Validity and Reliability

According to the provided material, the MS was developed on the basis of an understanding of musculoskeletal problems and their effects on functioning, with the aim of ensuring that the items cover important dimensions of the construct.

The source reports that Cronbach’s alpha values for the MS subscales are usually above 0.80, which is interpreted as indicating high internal consistency.

This information should be interpreted in relation to the specific population and version of the scale used in each study.

Applications

The MS-21 may be used in clinical, research, and occupational settings where systematic assessment of musculoskeletal symptoms is required.

It may support:

• assessment of the frequency of musculoskeletal pain,
• identification of body areas with greater symptom burden,
• examination of associations between symptoms and functioning,
• comparison of different groups or populations,
• and monitoring of changes in symptoms in research or applied interventions.

Reference

Dachapalli, L.-A. P., & Parumasur, S. (2012). Employee susceptibility to experiencing job insecurity. South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 15(1).