Reliability of isometric hip abductor torques during examiner- and belt-resisted tests

The purposes of this study were to determine the test-retest reliability of isometric hip abductor torques in elderly females, to compare two assessment protocols, and to compare the performances of elderly and young females. Twenty elderly and 20 young women were tested on two occasions. During the examiner-resisted test the examiner provided the resistance, and during the belt-resisted test the subject's contralateral leg provided the resistance while the examiner positioned the dynamometer. A four-way ANOVA indicated no occasion effects (p greater than .05). Within each group, similar torques were produced by both legs (p greater than .05). Test-retest intraclass reliability coefficients were good-to-high, ranging from 0.84 to 0.98 for the eight combinations of group-method-leg. The elderly females produced 61% of the torques produced by young females (p less than .01), and the examiner-resisted method produced 65% of the torques produced using the belt-resisted method (p less than .01). The belt-resisted method required less physical effort on the part of the tester, provided greater stabilization of the pelvis, and was preferred by 95% of the subjects.