Reliability and measurement error of hip abductor muscle strength using a hand-held dynamometer in healthy adults.
Yuko Akatsuka, Kenta Kuwahara, Keiji Asada
PMID 42703575WHAT IT FOUND
Hip abductor strength measured with a handheld dynamometer and a simple belt was highly reliable in healthy adults.
Using the average of two trials, rather than the maximum, reduced measurement error and improved consistency between different raters.
Key findings
01Inter-rater reliability was higher when using the average of two measurements compared to the maximum value.
02The minimal detectable change was lower for average values (8.1% body weight) than for maximum values (10.9% body weight).
03No additive or proportional errors were detected between the two raters.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study included only healthy young adults, so reliability in older adults or patients with hip pathology may differ. Both raters were female physiotherapists with similar experience and body size, which may not reflect variability in real-world clinical teams. Only two trials were performed per limb; it is unclear if more trials would further improve reliability.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this reliability applies to patients with hip osteoarthritis or other conditions causing pain or compensation, as the study only tested healthy adults.