ArticlesMeasuring standing hindfoot alignment: Reliability of goniometric and visual measurements
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Participants
Eighteen healthy subjects (10 men, 8 women) aged 22 to 41 years (mean, 24.8y) agreed to participate in the study. Subjects were recruited by advertisement through the medical and physical therapy schools at our institution. Exclusion criteria included (1) active symptoms of ankle injury or pathology; (2) history of lower-extremity injury or condition requiring medical evaluation, surgery, or treatment for which the subject sought professional care; (3) presence of grossly identifying marks
Results
The study population consisted of young, healthy, moderately active subjects. The mean subject age ± SD was 24.8±4.3 years (range, 22–41y) (table 1). Subjects had a mean body mass index of 22.6±3.3kg/m2 and participated in an average of 4.4±2.4 hours of regular physical activity each week (range, 0–9.5h/wk). Seventeen of 18 were right-foot dominant.
The quantitative STCA measurements for the visual and goniometric techniques are presented in table 2. Mean visual STCA measurements for each trial
Discussion
The primary purpose of our study was to examine the intrarater and interrater reliability of goniometrically measured standing hindfoot alignment measurements (ie, the STCA). Many studies have shown goniometric measures of joint angle and motion to be unreliable between raters.20, 23, 24 However, the techniques described in each of these investigations assess hindfoot angle in a non-weight-bearing position. For nearly all purposes of sport, exercise, or activities of daily living, the
Conclusions
The STCA exhibited acceptable intrarater reliability for clinical use, but the measurement may not be acceptably reliable between experienced examiners. Visual estimation and goniometric measurement of STCA exhibited equivalent intrarater reliability. For the experienced examiner, changes of up to 2° over time may be attributable to measurement error.
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Supported by the Mayo Foundation.
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