Functional Rating Index

A New Valid and Reliable Instrument - The One Minute Index

Patient-centered outcome instruments are now widely recognized as valuable assessment tools for researchers, doctors, patients and payors. The need to measure the function of the neck and back and to demonstrate clinical effectiveness has resulted in many reliable and valid patient report instruments being produced. Yet, existing self-report instruments measuring spinal pain and dysfunction require too much time for patients to answer (5 to 10 minutes per instrument) and health care workers to score (1 to 5 minutes per instrument) and, therefore, are underutilized in daily practice.

A new instrument, the Functional Rating Index, reduces the administrative burden. Functional Rating Index has been tested, and the initial results have been published in Spine. Medical Science Monitor has published a scientific review of 10 independent studies on the Functional Rating Index. The researchers found that the Functional Rating Index demonstrates favorable measurement properties of reliability, validity and responsiveness, and it significantly reduces administrative burden. On average, Functional Rating Index requires only about one minute for a patient to complete and about 20 seconds for a health care worker to score. Additionally, this instrument can be used with cervical, thoracic or lumbar conditions, which reduces the need for multiple instruments for spine-related conditions.

Copyright Information

Functional Rating Index (FRI) Copyright Information: Copyright © Institute of Evidence-Based Chiropractic. All rights reserved. The FRI may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission of the copyright holder. The limited license is for licensed health care practitioners.

Limited License for licensed health care practitioners:

You have permission to use the Functional Rating Index (FRI) in your general practice of health care, in teaching at educational institutions and/or for research purposes (Institutional Review Board approved) to assist in the documentation of clinical outcomes. You may not modify the FRI instrument, and it must contain the statement "© Institute of Evidence-Based Chiropractic; www.chiroevidence.com". You are hereby granted use of the FRI instrument in print format only. You may not place the FRI on the internet or use it in other electronic formats.

The FRI is subject to undiscovered defects and is licensed “as-is”. This is a non-commercial license and is granted on a royalty-free basis. You may copy the FRI for your clinical, educational or research uses. However, your right to photocopy and use the FRI does not extend beyond these uses. You are prohibited from selling the FRI or using it for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or in any software applications.

The laws of the State of Arizona, U.S.A. shall govern this agreement and any interpretations or considerations hereof. Further, the place of performance and transaction of business shall be deemed to be in the County of Maricopa, State of Arizona, U.S.A., and in the event of litigation, exclusive venue and place of jurisdiction shall be in Maricopa County, Arizona, U.S.A.

If you accept this Limited License Agreement, you may download a PDF of the validated English version of the Functional Rating Index and/or the validated Spanish version of the Functional Rating Index. You may download a complimentary copy of the Functional Rating Index Scoring Protocols.

Do you need an Electronic License?

Health care professionals wanting to use the FRI instrument in their computers with their software/applications may purchase an inexpensive electronic license. Click here to view your options.

Do you need a Web Site License?

Health care professionals wanting to use the FRI instrument on their web sites have two choices: Link to the document on this page OR purchase an inexpensive web site license. There is no license fee to link to our site (Note: Patients do not have access to the other pages on our web site when you link this way). Just have your web master establish a link to the FRI on this page. Click here to view your options.

Copyright Violations

The use of the FRI on your computer or web site without a license constitutes a copyright infringement subject to statutory damages of $30,000 to $150,000 (FCL Sections 504 – 506), plus costs and attorney fees.