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Reliability assessment of isometric knee extension measurements with a computer-assisted hand-held dynamometer
M E Roebroeck1, J Harlaar, G J Lankhorst
1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University Hospital Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Objective:
To assess clinically relevant indexes of measurement error of hand-held dynamometer measurements using a computer-assisted hand-held dynamometer (CAHN-DY).
Design:
In separate sessions, different physical therapists performed repeated measurements of maximal isometric knee extension.
Setting:
Four physical therapy practices and outpatient departments.
Patients:
Consecutive samples of 30 male and 28 female patients aged 13 to 77 years, with isolated orthopedic knee disorders participated in this study.
Main Outcome Measures:
For intrarater and interrater applications, the standard error of measurement (SEM) and related 95% confidence intervals and minimal detectable changes were assessed.
Results:
Sixty percent of the patients performed within the therapist's upper force limit. Variance between sessions performed by the same or different therapists accounted for a large percentage of the measurement error (70% to 81%). For single measurements, the standard error of measurement was assessed not to exceed 10N x m. Minimal detectable changes for different designs varied from 13.8 to 28.2N x m.
Conclusions:
The CAHN-DY facilitated standardization of test performance in a satisfactory manner, resulting in less measurement error compared with simple hand-held dynamometry.