A Novel Intrinsic Foot Muscle Strength Dynamometer Demonstrates Moderate-To-Excellent Reliability and Validity.
Jennifer Xu, Dante D Goss, Susan A Saliba
PMID 37547834WHAT IT FOUND
A $75 foot muscle dynamometer showed moderate-to-excellent reliability in healthy adults.
It agreed with a handheld dynamometer but was not interchangeable. Wider feet and more walking days correlated with higher force output.
Key findings
01The novel dynamometer demonstrated moderate-to-excellent intra-rater and inter-rater reliability across all toe conditions.
02Agreement with the handheld dynamometer was high, with most data points falling within the 95% limits of agreement.
03Foot width and the number of days spent walking in the previous week had small but significant correlations with intrinsic foot muscle strength.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was conducted only on healthy young adults, so validity in injured populations or older adults is not established. A learning effect was observed, with strength increasing between sessions without intervention, which may confound early rehabilitation tracking. The supine testing position may not fully replicate the functional demands of weight-bearing activities where intrinsic foot muscles primarily act.
Declared interests
The investigators received the novel dynamometer from the company Human Locomotion, which commercially sells the device for $75.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the novel dynamometer and handheld dynamometer are interchangeable. While they agreed in this study, the difference between the two methods increased with higher strength values, so switching tools mid-rehabilitation may distort progress tracking.