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Test-retest reliability of hand-held dynamometric strength testing in young people with cerebral palsy.
- Source :
-
Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation [Arch Phys Med Rehabil] 2004 Jan; Vol. 85 (1), pp. 77-80. - Publication Year :
- 2004
-
Abstract
- Objective: To evaluate the test-retest reliability of measuring lower-limb strength with a hand-held dynamometer in young people with cerebral palsy (CP).<br />Design: One rater measured the isometric strength of the lower limbs in 10 participants with CP on 2 occasions separated by 6 weeks.<br />Setting: University movement rehabilitation laboratory in Australia.<br />Participants: Ten young people (mean age +/- standard deviation, 13.5+/-3.4 y) with spastic diplegic CP. Eight of the participants walked independently and 2 walked with assistive devices.<br />Interventions: Not applicable.<br />Main Outcome Measures: Retest reliability of lower-limb strength, expressed in the units of measurement for the interpretation of group mean and individual scores and as intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC(2,1)).<br />Results: For groups, mean lower-limb strength increases of 7 kg (30%) could be interpreted as real change using 95% confidence intervals (CIs). For individuals, for strength gains to be interpreted as real change using 95% CIs, strength increases would need to be greater than 16.8 kg (70%) for the measurement of knee extension and to be greater than 4.3 kg (25%) for ankle plantarflexion. Measurement of hip extension strength was not reliable for group mean or individual scores. All reliability coefficients were greater than.80.<br />Conclusion: A hand-held dynamometer can reliably measure changes in lower-limb strength for groups of young people with CP. It is uncertain whether this method is useful for evaluating change in individuals. Relying only on a coefficient of reliability to decide the usefulness of a measurement can be misleading.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0003-9993
- Volume :
- 85
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 14970972
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/s0003-9993(03)00379-4