Clinical utility of the Trendelenburg Test in people with multiple sclerosis.

Only 20 people with MS were studied, all able to walk 100 m without an assistive device, so it says little about people who need an assistive device or have more severe mobility problems. Reliability was only within-session and by a single rater; between-session and inter-rater reliability were not tested. The test was scored as an angle, not as the common yes/no positive Trendelenburg test, so clinicians cannot yet use it as a simple diagnostic threshold. Goniometry and motion capture did not give the same average angle (9.1° by goniometry and 4.1° by motion analysis), and other plane and trunk motion were not measured, so goniometry may have overestimated pelvic drop. The study reported correlations, not effects of treatment or functional outcomes, so it cannot show that correcting Trendelenburg pelvic drop improves walking or falls. Hip strength was measured with hand-held dynamometry, not isokinetic dynamometry.

The authors reported no potential conflict of interest.

Do not conclude that the Trendelenburg test diagnoses hip abductor weakness or that a goniometer angle can identify a clinically meaningful problem. The study only measured correlations and agreement, did not establish a positive-test threshold, and reported mean angles of 9.1° by goniometry and 4.1° by motion capture.