Inter-Rater and Intra-Rater Reliability of Lower Limb Loading Force Measurements of Hemiplegic Patients in the Sitting Position

Abstract

We investigated the inter-and intra-rater reliabilities of lower limb loading force measurements in the sitting position. [Subjects] The subjects were 10 hemiplegic stroke patients with an average age of 67.0  10.4. [Method] The examiners were three physical therapists with different years of professional experience. From the reproducibility of the measurement values, we analyzed the inter-and intra-rater reliabilities. [Results] For intra-rater reliability, higher intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC: 0.866-0.994) were shown with longer years of experience, but even for relatively little experience the value was above the 95% confidence limit of 0.7. Furthermore, ICC of inter-rater reliability on the unaffected side was 0.898, and 0.970 on the hemiplegic side, both showing good reproducibility. [Conclusion] We confirmed the reliability of the measurement method of lower limb loading force in the sitting position for hemiplegic stroke patients, and that it is an assessment method which can be used irrespective of the examiner's years of experience.

Relationship between weight bearing ratio in sitting and physical function assessment in healthy adults

“…WBR in sitting is an evaluation method in which the body weight scale is placed under the foot on one side while the individual is in the sitting position, and the stability value is measured. High reliability has been reported in previous studies 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ) . In addition, Hara et al reported that no significant increase in blood pressure was observed before and after WBR in sitting 16 ) .…”