Faculty of Health Sciences, San Jorge University, Autovía A 23 Zaragoza-Huesca, km 510, 50830 Villanueva de Gállego (Zaragoza), Spain.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2011 Jul 10;12:155. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-12-155.
Even though technological progress has provided us with more and more sophisticated equipment for making goniometric measurements, the most commonly used clinical tools are still the universal goniometer and, to a lesser extent, the inclinometer. There is, however, no published study so far that uses an inclinometer for measurements in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The objective of this study was two-fold: to independently assess the intra and inter-examiner reliability for measuring the hip abduction range of motion in children with CP using two different instruments, the universal two-axis goniometer and electronic inclinometer. A pool of 5 examiners with different levels of experience as paediatric physiotherapists participated. The study did not compare both instruments because the measurement procedure and the hip position were different for each.
A prospective, observational study of goniometery was carried out with 14 lower extremities of 7 children with spastic CP. The inclinometer study was carried out with 8 lower extremities of 4 children with spastic CP. This study was divided into two independent parts: a study of the reliability of the hip abduction range of motion measured with a universal goniometer (hip at 0° flexion) and with an electronic inclinometer (hip at 90° flexion). The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was calculated to analyse intra and inter-examiner agreement for each instrument.
For the goniometer, the intra-examiner reliability was excellent (>0.80), while the inter-examiner reliability was low (0.375 and 0.475). For the inclinometer, both the intra-examiner (0.850-0.975) and inter-examiner reliability were excellent (0.965 and 0.979).
The inter-examiner reliability for goniometric measurement of hip abduction in children with CP was low, in keeping with other results found in previous publications. The inclinometer has proved to be a highly reliable tool for measuring the hip abduction range of motion in children with CP, which opens up new possibilities in this field, despite having some measurement limitations.
尽管技术进步为我们提供了越来越多的用于进行角度测量的精密设备，但最常用的临床工具仍然是通用量角器，其次是倾斜计。然而，到目前为止，还没有发表任何使用倾斜计测量脑瘫（CP）儿童的研究。本研究的目的有两个：使用两种不同的仪器，即通用双轴量角器和电子倾斜计，独立评估测量脑瘫儿童髋关节外展范围运动的内部和外部检查者的可靠性。一组 5 名具有不同儿科物理治疗师经验水平的检查者参与了这项研究。本研究没有比较这两种仪器，因为每种仪器的测量过程和髋关节位置都不同。
对 7 名痉挛性 CP 儿童的 14 条下肢进行前瞻性、观察性的量角法研究。对 4 名痉挛性 CP 儿童的 8 条下肢进行倾斜计研究。这项研究分为两个独立的部分：使用通用量角器（髋关节屈曲 0°）和电子倾斜计（髋关节屈曲 90°）测量髋关节外展范围运动的可靠性研究。使用组内相关系数（ICC）分析每种仪器的内部和外部检查者之间的一致性。
对于量角器，内部检查者的可靠性极好（>0.80），而外部检查者的可靠性较低（0.375 和 0.475）。对于倾斜计，内部检查者（0.850-0.975）和外部检查者的可靠性均极好（0.965 和 0.979）。
CP 儿童髋关节外展的量角测量的外部检查者可靠性较低，与之前发表的其他结果一致。倾斜计已被证明是测量 CP 儿童髋关节外展范围运动的高度可靠工具，尽管存在一些测量限制，但在该领域开辟了新的可能性。
