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Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods
BACKGROUND: Measuring knee range of motion is important in examination and as a post-operative outcome. It is therefore important that measurements are accurate. Knee angles can be measured by traditional goniometers, smartphone apps are readily available and there are also purpose made digital devi...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6195503/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30341552 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40634-018-0161-5 |
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author | Hancock, Graeme Ethan Hepworth, Tracey Wembridge, Kevin |
author_facet | Hancock, Graeme Ethan Hepworth, Tracey Wembridge, Kevin |
author_sort | Hancock, Graeme Ethan |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Measuring knee range of motion is important in examination and as a post-operative outcome. It is therefore important that measurements are accurate. Knee angles can be measured by traditional goniometers, smartphone apps are readily available and there are also purpose made digital devices. Establishing the minimum difference between methods is essential to monitor change. The purpose of this study was to assess reliability and minimum significant difference of visual estimation, short and long arm goniometers, a smartphone application and a digital inclinometer. METHODS: Knee angles were assessed by 3 users: one consultant orthopaedic surgeon, one orthopaedic surgical trainee and an experienced physiotherapist. All 5 methods were used to assess 3 knee angles, plus full active flexion and extension, on 6 knees. The subjects had knee angles fixed using limb supports during measurement, whilst maintaining appropriate clearance to allow a reproduction of assessment in clinic. Users were then blinded to their results and the test was repeated. A total of 300 measurements were taken. RESULTS: Inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities were high for all methods (all > 0.99 and > 0.98 respectively). The digital inclinometer was the most accurate method of assessment (6° minimum significant difference). The long arm goniometer had a minimum significant different of 10°, smartphone app 12° and both visual estimation and short arm goniometry were found to be equally inaccurate (14° minimum significant difference). CONCLUSION: The digital inclinometer was the most accurate method of knee angle measurement, followed by the long arm goniometer. Visual estimation and short goniometers should not be used if an accurate assessment is required. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6195503 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-61955032018-11-02 Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods Hancock, Graeme Ethan Hepworth, Tracey Wembridge, Kevin J Exp Orthop Research BACKGROUND: Measuring knee range of motion is important in examination and as a post-operative outcome. It is therefore important that measurements are accurate. Knee angles can be measured by traditional goniometers, smartphone apps are readily available and there are also purpose made digital devices. Establishing the minimum difference between methods is essential to monitor change. The purpose of this study was to assess reliability and minimum significant difference of visual estimation, short and long arm goniometers, a smartphone application and a digital inclinometer. METHODS: Knee angles were assessed by 3 users: one consultant orthopaedic surgeon, one orthopaedic surgical trainee and an experienced physiotherapist. All 5 methods were used to assess 3 knee angles, plus full active flexion and extension, on 6 knees. The subjects had knee angles fixed using limb supports during measurement, whilst maintaining appropriate clearance to allow a reproduction of assessment in clinic. Users were then blinded to their results and the test was repeated. A total of 300 measurements were taken. RESULTS: Inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities were high for all methods (all > 0.99 and > 0.98 respectively). The digital inclinometer was the most accurate method of assessment (6° minimum significant difference). The long arm goniometer had a minimum significant different of 10°, smartphone app 12° and both visual estimation and short arm goniometry were found to be equally inaccurate (14° minimum significant difference). CONCLUSION: The digital inclinometer was the most accurate method of knee angle measurement, followed by the long arm goniometer. Visual estimation and short goniometers should not be used if an accurate assessment is required. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2018-10-19 /pmc/articles/PMC6195503/ /pubmed/30341552 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40634-018-0161-5 Text en © The Author(s). 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | Research Hancock, Graeme Ethan Hepworth, Tracey Wembridge, Kevin Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods |
title | Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods |
title_full | Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods |
title_fullStr | Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods |
title_full_unstemmed | Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods |
title_short | Accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods |
title_sort | accuracy and reliability of knee goniometry methods |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6195503/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30341552 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40634-018-0161-5 |
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