Interrater reliability for unilateral and bilateral tests to measure the popliteal angle in children and youth with cerebral palsy

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Elisabet Rodby-Bousquet¹  Erika Cloodt²  Joanna Krasny³  Marek Jozwiak³ 

[1] Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Orthopaedics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden;Centre for Clinical Research, Uppsala University-Region Västmanland, Västerås, Sweden;Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Orthopaedics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden;Department of Research and Development, Region Kronoberg, Växjö, Sweden;Department of Pediatric Orthopedics and Traumatology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland;

关键词: Cerebral palsy;    Hamstring muscles;    Physical examination;    Range of motion;    Reproducibility of results;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12891-021-04135-6

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundShort hamstring muscles can cause several problems for children with cerebral palsy. The results of the clinical measurement of hamstring length are often used in decision-making about treatment of children with cerebral palsy. There are different ways of performing this measurement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the interrater reliability of the unilateral and bilateral measurement of the popliteal angle in children and youth with cerebral palsy.MethodsTwo methods for estimating hamstring length using unilateral and bilateral measurements of the popliteal angle were applied in children with cerebral palsy. Both tests were applied bilaterally by two independent examiners on the same day for each child. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated to evaluate the interrater reliability of both measurements. Seventy young people with cerebral palsy (32 females, 38 males, mean age 10 years 8 months, range 5–22 years) at Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I (n = 17), II (n = 31), III (n = 12) and IV (n = 10) were included.ResultsThe interrater reliability was good for both measurements. The ICC values were 0.80 on the right and 0.86 on the left for the unilateral popliteal angle, and 0.82 on the right and 0.83 on the left for the bilateral popliteal angle.ConclusionsBoth unilateral and bilateral measurement of the popliteal angle is a reliable method for estimating hamstring length in children and youth with cerebral palsy.

【 授权许可】

CC BY