Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:27:31.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Intrarater reliability of lower limb sagittal range-of-motion measures in children with spastic diplegia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2003

Gaela Kilgour
Affiliation:
Starship Children's HospitalNew Zealand.
Peter McNair
Affiliation:
Auckland University of TechnologyNew Zealand.
N Susan Stott
Affiliation:
Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Get access

Abstract

In this study, 10 sagittal lower limb range-of-motion measures were conducted in a blinded fashion in 25 children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy and in 25 age- and sex-matched controls. The participants comprised 22 males, mean age 10 years 8 months and 28 females, with mean age 9 years 8 months; age range 6 to 17 years. One paediatric physical therapist performed duplicate goniometric measures at zero time and 7 days later using the same sequence of measures, location, and time of day. Mean absolute differences for measures within one session ranged from 0.7 to 2.9° in controls and from 1 to 4.2° in children with spastic diplegia. Most intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for intra-sessional measures were more than 0.90 in both groups. Measures between sessions were less reliable. Mean absolute differences between sessions were up to 7.1° for children with spastic diplegia and 8.6° for controls, with most ICCs being less than 0.80. Inter-sessional variation in measures was similar in both groups, suggesting that measurement variability is not influenced by the presence of spasticity. Averaging of two measures did not improve inter-sessional reliability compared with the use of a single measure. Dynamic measures (R1) were as reliable as passive measures (R2), but there were inter-sessional differences in calculations using R1 and R2 measures of up to 30°.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
© 2003 Mac Keith Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)