title: [Total knee arthroplasty: reproducibility of gait speed].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To calculate the inter-session (test-retest) and inter-observers' reproducibility of the maximal gait speed measured in patients recently operated for osteoarthritis with a total knee arthroplasty.
  
  
  METHODS
  Evaluation of the maximal gait speed in 20 patients [t72 +/- 6.5 years] on a 10-meter track by two observers using a manual stopwatch and by an automatic photoelectric stopwatch. The maximal gait speed was measured from three trials in two conditions, with and without crutches, with 1 day of interval at the third and the fourth post-surgery week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The inter-session reproducibility (1-day test-retest) is 0.91 [intraclass correlation coefficient] with crutches and 0.9 without crutches at the third post-surgery week, and 0.96 and 0.94 at the fourth post-surgery week with and without crutches respectively. The inter-observers' reproducibility is 0.9 to 0.99.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When a standardized protocol is used, the reproducibility of maximal gait speed measurements is excellent. These tests evaluate easily and objectively the maximal gait speed in patients recently operated with a total knee arthroplasty.
authors.affiliation: Pôle de médecine physique et réadaptation, hôpital Saint-Jacques, CHU de Nantes, 44035 cedex 01, Nantes, France. marc.dauty@chu-nantes.fr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dauty
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cornu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Allard
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Grandet
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dubois
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016896:Treatment Outcome