• The Wheelchair User’s Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI) is a simple and effective self-report questionnaire for quickly measuring the functional cost of shoulder pain in wheelchair users.
  • The WUSPI targets activity limitation resulting from shoulder pain (4 subsections), including wheelchair transfers, wheelchair mobility, self-care and general activities. However, it does not obtain information about the type or frequency of pain experienced during the activities.

ICF Domain

Body Function ▶ Sensory Functions

Number of Items

15 items

Equipment

None

Scoring

  • You will need approximately 5 minutes to complete the WUSPI.
  • Each item is scored 0-10 on a 10 cm visual analog scale (VAS).
  • Total score (0-150) is the sum of all item scores.
  • Higher scores indicate greater interference due to shoulder pain.
  • No strategies are suggested to assist with scoring if a person indicates they do not do certain activities (e.g./ load their chair into a car).

Languages

English

Training Required

None

Availability

Can be found by contacting the author (Dr. Kathleen Curtis, kacurtis@utep.edu).

# of studies reporting psychometric properties: 4

Interpretability

MCID: not established in SCI
SEM: 1.84
MDC: 5.10

(Curtis et al. 1995b)

Reliability

  • High Test-retest Reliability:
    ICC = 0.99

(Curtis et al. 1995b)

  • High Internal Consistency:
    α = 0.97

(Curtis et al. 1995a)

Validity

  • Low correlation with Klein-Bell ADL Scale:
    Correlation = 0.10

(Samuelsson et al. 2004)

  • High Convergent Validity with Numerical Rating Scale 101 (for Pain):
    Correlation = 0.723

(Salisbury et al. 2006)

Responsiveness

No values were reported for the responsiveness in the WUSPI for the SCI population.

Floor/ceiling effect

No values were reported for the presence of floor/ceiling effects in the WUSPI for the SCI population.

Reviewers

Dr. Bill Miller, Matthew Querée, Kyle Diab, John Zhu

Date Last Updated

3 August 2020

Curtis KA, Roach KE, Applegate EB, Amar T, Benbow CS, Genecco TD, Gualano J. Development of the Wheelchair User’s Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI). Paraplegia 1995;33:290-293.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7630657

Curtis KA, Roach KE, Applegate EB, Amar T, Benbow CS, Genecco TD, Gualano J. Reliability and validity of the Wheelchair User’s Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI). Paraplegia 1995;33:595-601.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8848314

Samuelsson KAM, Tropp H, Gerdle B. Shoulder pain and its consequences in paraplegic spinal cord-injured wheelchair users. Spinal Cord 2004; 42:41–46.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14713943

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