Test-retest reliability of a procedure for measuring extensibility of the extrinsic finger flexor muscles.
This study assessed the test-retest reliability of a procedure designed to provide torque-controlled measurements of the extensibility of extrinsic finger flexor muscles. The extensibility of the extrinsic finger flexor muscles of both hands of nine patients who had spinal cord injuries was measured on two consecutive days. On each day a total of three measurements were obtained for each hand. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and percent close agreement scores were used to assess agreement between the mean measurements obtained on day 1 and those obtained on day 2. An ICC of 0.85 was obtained. Measurements obtained on day 1 were within 5 degrees of the measurements obtained on day 2 83% of the time. The procedure is therefore sufficiently reliable for many clinical and research applications.
Harvey
L
L
Department of Physiotherapy, Prince Henry Hospital, Little Bay, New South Wales, Australia.
King
M
M
Herbert
R
R
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology