ABSTRACT
The present study was performed to examine the reliability of ultrasound in evaluating patellar mobility in the superior-inferior direction. Twelve healthy men volunteered for the study. Patellar mobility in the superior-inferior direction during isometric knee extension contraction with the knee immobilized in a semi-flexed knee brace was measured using ultrasound. Both intra-observer and inter-observer reliability were assessed by intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs). Bland-Altman analysis was used for assessing agreement between measurements. ICC values were excellent for both intra-observer and inter-observer reliability at 0.97 and 0.93, respectively. In 95 % of measurements, the same observer measured within -0.55 to 0.61 mm, while different observers measured within -0.82 to 0.85 mm. In conclusion, patellar mobility in the superior-inferior direction during an isometric knee extension exercise can be reproducibly measured using ultrasound. THE LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: VI (basic study of a novel evaluation method).
