Exploring relevant parameters and investigating their reproducibility of task-oriented unimanual strength measurement
Mellanie Geijen1, Caroline Bastiaenen2, Andrew Gordon3
1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Research School Functioning, Participation & Rehabilitation, CAPHRI, Maastricht University Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Insights
The Task-oriented Arm-hAnd Capacity (TAAC) push button task shows moderate to good reliability for measuring strength in children with unilateral Cerebral Palsy. Key parameters like mean peak force and successful attempts are clinically relevant for assessing daily activity performance.
Area of Science:
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Pediatric Neurology
- Biomechanics
Background:
- Children with unilateral Cerebral Palsy (CP) often experience upper-limb functional deficits.
- Assessing task-oriented strength is crucial for understanding and improving daily activity performance in this population.
- The Task-oriented Arm-hAnd Capacity (TAAC) offers a method to measure this strength.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the test-retest reliability of specific parameters within the TAAC push button task.
- To identify the most relevant and functionally meaningful parameters for children with unilateral CP.
Main Methods:
- 118 children (6-18 years) with unilateral CP participated.
- Test-retest reliability of the TAAC push button task was assessed using an intraclass correlation (ICC) coefficient.
- Analysis included the whole group and two age subgroups (6-12 and 13-18 years).
Main Results:
- Moderate to good test-retest reliability was found for all measured parameters (ICC range 0.667-0.908).
- Parameters like 'mean peak force' and 'number of successful attempts' demonstrated strong reliability.
- Reliability remained consistent across different age groups.
Conclusions:
- The TAAC push button task demonstrates reliable measurement of task-oriented strength in children with unilateral CP.
- 'Mean peak force' and 'number of successful attempts' are recommended as the most clinically relevant parameters.
- The TAAC is a reliable, objective, and clinically applicable instrument for assessing upper-limb function in children with CP.
Purpose:
To explore relevant parameters and investigate their test-retest reliability within the scope of the push button task of the Task-oriented Arm-hAnd Capacity (TAAC) measured in children with unilateral Cerebral Palsy (CP).
Methods:
118 children diagnosed with unilateral CP, aged between 6 and 18 years, participated in this study. Thetest-retest reliability of the force generated during the push button task of the TAAC was investigated using an intraclass correlation (ICC) two-way random model with absolute agreement. The ICCs were calculated across the whole age group and for two separate age subgroups (6-12 and 13-18 years).
Results:
Test-retest reliability of the parameters "mean peak force of all attempts", "overshoot of force", "number of successful attempts" and "time to complete four successful attempts" were moderate to good (ICC range 0.667-0.865; 0.721-0.908; 0.733-0.817, respectively).
Conclusions:
The results showed moderate to good test-retest reliability for all parameters. The parameters "mean peak force" and "number of successful attempts" are the most relevant parameters, as these parameters are task-specific and the most functional for clinical practice.Implications for RehabilitationClinical relevant information about the use of task-oriented strength during the performance of daily activity has been added to strength measurements in children with Cerebral Palsy.The Task-oriented Arm-hAnd Capacity instrument is a reliable, objective and simple instrument to measure task-oriented strength during daily activity and is ready for use in a clinical setting.The Task-oriented Arm-hAnd Capacity instrument is both a capacity and performance-based test.The measurement with the push button task showed moderate to good test-retest reliability.
