Charles James A, Diot Romain, Houari Camilia, Chuter Vivienne, Pillu Michel, Mcdonough Daniel
*First Peoples Health Unit, Health Group, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
†Ecole d'Assas School of Podiatry, Paris, France.
J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 2023 Jan-Feb;113(1). doi: 10.7547/20-234.
Ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion is essential to normal gait. Ankle equinus has been implicated in a number of foot and ankle pathologies included Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, ankle injury, forefoot pain, and foot ulceration. Reliable measurement of ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion, both clinically and in a research setting, is important.
The primary aim of this study was to investigate the intertester reliability of an innovative device for measuring ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion. A total of 31 (n = 31) participants volunteered to take part in this study. A paired t-test was performed to assess for systematic differences between the mean measures of each rater. Intertester reliability was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and their 95% confidence intervals.
A paired t-test demonstrated that the mean ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion did not significantly differ between raters. The ankle joint ROM mean for rater 1 was 4.65 SD (3.71) and rater 2 was 4.67 SD (3.91). Intertester reliability for the use of the Dorsi-Meter was excellent and demonstrated a very narrow range of error. The ICC (95%CI) was 0.991 (0.980 to 0.995) the SEM (in degrees) was 0.07, the MDC95, in degrees was 0.19 and 95% LOA, degrees was -1.49 to 1.46.
We found the intertester reliability of the Dorsi-Meter to demonstrate higher levels of intertester reliability compared to previous studies investigating other devices. We reported the MDC values to provide an estimate of the smallest amount of change in the ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion that must be achieved to reflect a true change, outside the error of the test. The Dorsi-Meter has been established as an appropriate reliable device to measure ankle joint dorsiflexion for clinicians and researchers with very small minimal detectable change and limits of agreement.
踝关节背屈活动范围对正常步态至关重要。足踝马蹄足畸形与多种足踝疾病有关，包括跟腱炎、足底筋膜炎、踝关节损伤、前足疼痛和足部溃疡。在临床和研究环境中，可靠地测量踝关节背屈活动范围非常重要。
本研究的主要目的是调查一种用于测量踝关节背屈活动范围的创新装置在不同测试者之间的可靠性。共有31名参与者自愿参加本研究。进行配对t检验以评估每个评分者平均测量值之间的系统差异。使用组内相关系数（ICC）及其95%置信区间评估不同测试者之间的可靠性。
配对t检验表明，不同评分者之间踝关节背屈活动范围的平均值没有显著差异。评分者1的踝关节活动范围平均值为4.65 SD（3.71），评分者2为4.67 SD（3.91）。使用背屈测量仪时，不同测试者之间的可靠性极佳，误差范围非常窄。ICC（95%CI）为0.991（0.980至0.995），标准误（以度为单位）为0.07，95%最小可检测变化（MDC95，以度为单位）为0.19, 95%一致性界限（LOA，以度为单位）为 -1.49至1.46.
我们发现，与之前研究其他装置的研究相比，背屈测量仪在不同测试者之间的可靠性更高。我们报告了MDC值以估计踝关节背屈活动范围中必须实现的最小变化量，以反映超出测试误差的真实变化。背屈测量仪已被确立为一种合适的可靠装置，可用于临床医生和研究人员测量踝关节背屈，其最小可检测变化和一致性界限非常小。
