Reliability of measurements obtained with four tests for patellofemoral alignment... including commentary by McConnell J with author response.

Background and Purpose. A series of patellofemoral (PF) alignment tests have been described that are used to determine when and how PF taping techniques should be applied. The reliability of measurements obtained with these tests has not been reported. The purpose of this study was to determine the intertester reliability of measurements obtained with four PF alignment tests: medial/lateral displacement, medial/lateral tilt, medial/lateral rotation, and anterior tilt. Subjects. Twelve physical therapists from four clinics served as testers. A total of 66 patients were evaluated. Methods. Paired testers performed all four PF alignment tests on the same patient. The intertester reliability of judgments of each of the PF alignment tests was determined by a kappa correlation coefficient. Results. Kappa correlation coefficients ranged from .10 to .36 for the four PF alignment tests. Conclusion and Discussion. These findings suggest that the reliability of measurements obtained with the PF alignment tests described in this report ranged from poor to fair. Potential factors affecting the reliability of these measurements are discussed. Alternative methods for deciding when and how to apply PF taping techniques are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]