Authors: Posłuszny A., Myśliwiec A., Saulicz E., Mikołajowski G., Linek P., Saulicz M.
Published online: 30 November 2015
Background: In the physiotherapeutic practice, the need for measurements of e.g. range of motion or strength of the cervical spine muscles results from a variety of degenerative processes in the area of the head, cervical spine and shoulder girdle. In Poland, we designed a measurement stand based on the equipment described in foreign literature. Validation of the measurement stand was performed in order to determine the usefulness of this stand for measurements of maximal strength and muscle torques for the isometric contraction of the cervical spine muscles.
Material/Methods: A group of 13 women was examined to validate the device. The criteria for inclusion into the study group were adult age, no back pain and head pain syndromes. Validation of the equipment consisted in the calculation of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Three measurements were performed for each movement in three planes: initial measurement (I), second measurement after 15 minutes (II) and the third measurement after a week (III). The ICC coefficient was calculated based on the methodology discussed in the study by Shrout and Fleiss (1979).
Results: The results of the measurements reached the „excellent” level of the ICC coefficient between the first and the second test. In the case of the first and the third tests, the ICC coefficient reached the „good” level for the movements in the sagittal and transverse planes and the „excellent” level for the movements in the frontal plane.
Conclusions: The measurement system used in the measurement stand designed by the authors of the present study can be successfully used for comparative studies of several groups or repeated examinations of the same study group after application of a specific therapeutic procedure.The stand cannot be used for evaluation whether the results obtained are consistent with the standards for specific populations or for comparison with the results obtained from other devices.
