title: Inter-tester and intra-tester reliability of ultrasound imaging measurements of abdominal muscles in adolescents with and without idiopathic scoliosis: a case-controlled study.
abstract: The present study established inter-tester and intra-tester reliabilities of ultrasound imaging and diagnostically differentiated muscle imbalances in lateral abdominal muscle sizes between normal adolescents and adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Fifteen adolescents with AIS were age- and gender-matched with 15 normal adolescents. There was no significant difference between bilateral abdominal muscles in normal adolescents, but there was a significant difference between bilateral abdominal muscles in adolescents with AIS (P<0.05). Overall, inter-tester and intra-tester reliabilities in normal and AIS adolescents ranged from 0.801-0.984. This novel study shows that using ultrasound imaging to measure lateral abdominal muscle thickness is: (1) highly reliable between and within the testers; and (2) capable of distinguishing between subjects with and without pathological muscle morphology due to AIS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Cheongam College, Sunchen City, Jeollanam-do, Republic of South Korea.
authors.forename: Hoe S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ji W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Bo A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chang K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Joshua H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: You
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D015588:Observer Variation; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012600:Scoliosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; Muscle thickness; Reliability; Ultrasound imaging