Reliability of a New Stabilized Dynamometer System for the Evaluation of Hip Strength

Abstract

Background:Hip strength is associated with numerous orthopaedic and neuromuscular injuries and/or pathologies and may be assessed with a variety of anatomic testing positions and techniques. Isokinetic dynamometers are generally too cumbersome and intricate for efficient use in mass screenings (for prognostic studies of risk for injury) as well as with special populations. The reliability of isometric testing devices has demonstrated varied reliability, generally examining only 1 or 2 motions of the hip and reporting values of force, not torque. Consequently, there is a need for an efficient hip strength-testing device to quantify torque that tests subjects in 1 anatomic position, while evaluating multiple hip motions.Hypothesis:Evaluation of supine hip abduction, adduction, flexion, and extension torque using a new stabilized dynamometer system will produce good to excellent intra- and interexaminer reliability results.Study Design:A blinded, randomized, repeated-measures study design was used in this descriptive laboratory investigation.Methods:Supine isometric hip flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction torques were evaluated with a cage-stabilized dynamometer in 19 collegiate and professional-level ice hockey athletes by 2 investigators at 3 time intervals. Inter- and intrarater reliability was assessed.Results:Supine hip flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction torque was performed with good to excellent inter- and intrarater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.74 to 0.92 and 0.78 to 0.92, respectively) for all motions tested.Conclusions:We have developed an isometric hip strength-testing device that can be assembled around an examination table to efficiently and reliably evaluate torque developed for multiple motions of the hip.Clinical Relevance:This device and testing protocol may be used to efficiently evaluate hip strength in numerous settings; it allows decreased subject burden and increased comfort (which may be important following an injury in case-control investigations); and it may be well tolerated when testing athletes as well as special populations in the clinical setting.

Grip and Muscle Strength Dynamometry in Acute Burn Injury: Evaluation of an Updated Assessment Protocol

“…Hand held dynamometry has historically demonstrated issues with reliability related to assessor sex and strength [6,8]. The use of external stabilization has been shown to ameliorate biases related to this problem and improve testing reliability [10,[13][14][15][16]. In this study and in practice we confirmed the use of external stabilization to be useful in reducing the assessor-patient strength disparity throughout our clinical testing procedures.…”

“…By implementing an external system of stabilization, it is possible to reduce variability that exists in relation to the physical strength of the assessor. Minimizing the strength differential between tester and assessor in this way has been shown to improve reliability in other populations [9,10].…”

Multivariate Analysis of the Risk Factors for First-Time Noncontact ACL Injury in High School and College Athletes

“…These methods have been described, and specific details are provided in the online Appendix. 16 The methods used to measure isometric hip strength (flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal and external rotation) were those developed by Tourville et al 34 The same investigator measured strength for all subjects, and the peak torque developed during the test was used as the outcome. Personality characteristics were evaluated with the Temperament and Character Inventory, 12 which was completed by the study participants.…”

Reliability of a New Portable Dynamometer for Assessing Hip and Lower Limb Strength

“…), which makes the direct comparison of peak torques/forces from different studies difficult. Nevertheless, Tourville et al (2013) [18] used externally fixated load cells to measure hip strength of ice hockey players and found similar results for HADD and HABD (157.5 ± 48. 9 6 Nm from our study).…”