Virtual assessments of knee and wrist joint range motion have comparable reliability with face-to-face assessments.
Musculoskeletal Care
; 19(2): 208-216, 2021 06.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-891896
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
There has been increased usage of virtual telerehabilitation approach during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial to establish reliability of conducting virtual assessments for musculoskeletal conditions.OBJECTIVES:
This research determined the intra- and interrater reliability of measuring knee and wrist range of motion (ROM) assessed virtually and obtained face-to-face (F2F) using a goniometer (UG) for a student and an experienced examiner.METHOD:
Knee and wrist joint ROM for 54 healthy participants was assessed virtually and F2F by a student examiner and an experienced physical therapist. Intra- (virtual vs. UG assessment) and inter-rater (virtual or UG assessment between examiners) reliabilities were examined for all ROM using Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The ICC values were considered good (>0.75) or excellent (>0.90). Bland and Altman plots determined the limits of agreement (LOA) in assessing joint ROM. RESULTS/FINDINGS:
Student examiner had good reliability in virtually estimating knee extension (ICC = 0.79), wrist flexion (ICC = 0.82) and wrist extension (ICC = 0.78), whereas the experienced examiner had excellent reliability in virtually estimating all knee and wrist ROM (ICC > 0.90). The LOA in assessing knee and wrist ROM for the student examiner were wider indicating higher disagreement between virtual and UG-obtained ROM in some cases.CONCLUSIONS:
Virtual estimation of knee and wrist ROM is a reliable technique, however experience level impacts the precision of measurement. It is suggested that the same examiner conducts all the ROM assessments throughout the clinical course of a patient receiving virtual interventions for knee or wrist pathologies.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Wrist Joint
/
Range of Motion, Articular
/
Arthrometry, Articular
/
Telerehabilitation
/
Knee Joint
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Musculoskeletal Care
Journal subject:
Physiology
/
Orthopedics
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Msc.1525
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