Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain: intertester reliability of 3 tests to determine asymmetric mobility of the sacroiliac joints.
OBJECTIVE
Several tests have been developed to determine the extent of sacroiliac asymmetry during pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP). This blinded control study investigated the intertester reliability of 3 such tests used in PGP.


METHODS
A total of 62 women (ages 20-40 years) were recruited from regional obstetric practices and subsequently divided into 3 groups: (1) 20 women without PGP who were pregnant for more than 20 weeks, (2) 22 women with PGP who were pregnant for more than 20 weeks, and (3) a control group of 20 women who were not pregnant and had no back pain or PGP. All tests were performed by 2 physiotherapists independently of each other and blinded to each other's results. The 3 tests were the thumb-posterior superior iliac spines test, the heel-bank test, and the abduction test.


RESULTS
To determine the level of agreement between the 2 testers, kappa values were calculated. The overall kappa is 0.30 (range, -0.22 to 0.83), which is considered as a poor agreement. The percentage agreement per test/category ranged from 45% to 95%.


CONCLUSIONS
This study of 3 tests used to determine asymmetry of the sacroiliac joints in women with pregnancy-related PGP showed them to have a poor intertester reliability.
van Kessel-Cobelens
Anneke M
AM
Nieuw-Vennep, The Netherlands.
Verhagen
Arianne P
AP
Mens
Jan M
JM
Snijders
Chris J
CJ
Koes
Bart W
BW
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012446:Sacroiliac Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*