Reliability of the hand held dynamometer in measuring muscle strength in people with interstitial lung disease

Leona Dowman; Christine F McDonald; Catherine J Hill; Annemarie Lee; Kathryn Barker; Claire Boote; Ian Glaspole; Nicole Goh; Annemarie Southcott; Angela Burge; Rebecca Ndongo; Alicia Martin; Anne E Holland

doi:10.1016/j.physio.2015.10.002

Reliability of the hand held dynamometer in measuring muscle strength in people with interstitial lung disease

Physiotherapy. 2016 Sep;102(3):249-55. doi: 10.1016/j.physio.2015.10.002. Epub 2015 Oct 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, La Trobe University/Alfred Health Clinical School, Alfred Centre, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia; Department of Physiotherapy, Austin Health, Heidelberg VIC 3084, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Respiratory & Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Department of Physiotherapy, Austin Health, Heidelberg VIC 3084, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia; Department of Physiotherapy, Alfred Health, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Department of Physiotherapy, Western Health, Footscray, VIC 3011, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Department of Physiotherapy, Western Health, Footscray, VIC 3011, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Allergy, Immunology & Respiratory Medicine Department, Alfred Health, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁸ Department of Respiratory & Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia; Allergy, Immunology & Respiratory Medicine Department, Alfred Health, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁹ Department of Respiratory & Sleep Disorders Medicine, Western Health, Footscray, VIC 3011, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁰ Department of Physiotherapy, Alfred Health, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹¹ Department of Physiotherapy, La Trobe University/Alfred Health Clinical School, Alfred Centre, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹² Department of Physiotherapy, Western Health, Footscray, VIC 3011, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹³ Department of Physiotherapy, La Trobe University/Alfred Health Clinical School, Alfred Centre, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia; Department of Physiotherapy, Alfred Health, Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 26596172
DOI: 10.1016/j.physio.2015.10.002

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the hand held dynamometer in measuring muscle strength in people with interstitial lung disease (ILD).

Design: Test retest reliability of hand-held dynamometry for elbow flexor and knee extensor strength between two independent raters and two testing sessions.

Setting: Physiotherapy department within a tertiary hospital.

Participants: Thirty participants with ILD of varying aetiology were included. Twenty participants completed the inter-rater reliability protocol (10 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, mean (SD) age 73 (10) years, 11 male) and 21 participants completed the intra-rater reliability protocol (10 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, mean age 71 (10) years, 11 male).

Main outcome measures: Mean muscle strength (kg). Agreement between the two raters and testing sessions was analyzed using Bland-Altman plots and reliability was estimated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).

Results: For elbow flexor strength there was a mean difference between raters of -0.6kg (limits of agreement (LOA) -5.6 to 4.4kg) and within raters of -0.3kg (LOA -2.8 to 2.3kg). The ICCs were 0.95 and 0.98, respectively. For knee extensor strength there was a mean difference between raters of -1.5kg (LOA -6.9 to 3.9kg) and within raters of -0.7kg (LOA -3.9 to 2.4kg). The ICCs were 0.95 and 0.97, respectively.

Conclusions: Hand-held dynamometry is reliable in measuring elbow flexor and knee extensor strength in people with ILD.

Keywords: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; Interstitial lung diseases; Muscle strength; Muscle strength dynamometer; Reliability and validity.

MeSH terms

Aged
Female
Humans
Lung Diseases, Interstitial / physiopathology*
Male
Muscle Strength / physiology*
Muscle Strength Dynamometer*
Reproducibility of Results