goniometer reliability and validity knee

He concluded that using goniometer to measure joint motion is more reliable than estimating the joint angle degree. In these experiments, the intertester and intratester variations were smaller in the second experiment than in the first. The second experiment, five testers were used to measure elbow flexion on 10 different occasions. The mean error of the measurements was slightly less than that of the estimates. In his first experiments, 50 observers were estimated and measured the joint motions. Low (1976) compared measurements and estimates of elbow extension and flexion.

It was found out that well-trained physical therapists could measure the ROM of the specified joints with a high degree of reliability. 1949 ) was the first to report on the reliability of goniometric measurements, he tested patients with disabilities and investigated intertester reliability of the elbow, radioulnar, shoulder and wrist joints. The reliability of ROM measurements for patients may vary with their clinical problems and may differ from that reported for healthy subjects. These results probably may be reliable than the results of past studies with long time intervals between tests because the accuracy of the measurements is increased with few uncontrolled variables.Īlthough we acknowledge, that relliability is affected by a number of factors, the complexity of the movement measured, variations among the body regions measured, whether the movement is active or passive, and whether the measurement is conducted by the same examiner (intratester reliability) or by different examiners (intertester reliability). The accurate evaluation of the reliability of the instrument and procedures is determined when short time intervals separate tests, the classic “test-retest” study design. The reliability of the measurements expresses the stability or reproducibility only in relation to the time intervals given.

Because patients often are treated and reevaluated by different physical therapists given the same condition, the intertester reliability of goniometric measurement techniques is essential. Reliability is the consistency or the repeatability of the range of motion measurement when taken on at least in two different occasions or by two different examiners. To most physical therapists, the universal goniometer remains the most versatile and widely used instrument in clinical practice. These measurements have often been inconsistent partially due to intertester differences in measurement technique, including differences in patient and goniometric positioning. It has been used for years by physical therapists in an attempt to quantify joint range of motion. Goniometry is a technique term used in physical therapy to quantify joint range of motion. Reliability and Validity of Goniometric Measurements

Goniometer reliability and validity knee