Reliability of hand-held dynamometry in spinal muscular atrophy.
We have assessed the reliability of hand-held myometry in 33 patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), testing elbow flexion, handgrip, three-point pinch, knee flexion, knee extension, and foot dorsiflexion, and determining intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Interrater reliability was high for upper limbs, with an ICC of 0.92 for three-point pinch and 0.98 for elbow flexion and grip. For lower limbs interrater reliability was good with ICC >0.85 for all measures except foot dorsiflexion. Test-retest results were excellent with ICC >0.91 in all instances. Hand-held myometry is easily performed in SMA patients of various ages and muscle strengths, is a reliable measure of limb muscle strength, and can be used in longitudinal studies and clinical trials.
Neuromuscular Unit, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, via Pupilli 1, 40136 Bologna, Italy. merlini@ior.it
Luciano
L
Merlini
Elena Stacy
ES
Mazzone
Alessandra
A
Solari
Lucia
L
Morandi
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019719:Diagnostic Equipment / Q000592:standards*; D004550:Elbow / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000503:physiopathology; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction; D007717:Knee / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014897:Spinal Muscular Atrophies of Childhood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*