Inclinometers and apps are better than goniometers, measuring knee extension range of motion in anterior cruciate ligament patients: reliability and minimal detectable change for the three devices

Review written by Dr Travis Pollen info

Key Points

  1. After an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, the ability to measure knee extension range of motion (ROM) reliably is crucial to ensuring rehabilitation is restoring it.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries often result in persistent deficits in knee extension range of motion (ROM). These deficits can contribute to impaired gait, knee osteoarthritis, and poor patient-reported outcomes. To be confident interventions are contributing to real changes in outcomes (beyond measurement error), it’s important to be able to measure knee extension ROM reliably.

Three common tools for measuring knee extension ROM are goniometers, inclinometers, and smartphone apps. However, evidence for the reliability of these devices is conflicting (1), and no previous reliability study had been conducted on patients with ACL injuries. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the three common measurement tools in patients post-ACL injury.

Anterior cruciate ligament injuries often result in persistent deficits in knee extension range of motion.
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Both the inclinometer and smartphone are more reliable than the goniometer for measuring knee extension ROM in patients with ACL injuries.

METHODS

A total of 92 patients rehabilitating from an ACL injury participated in the study (91% male, mean age = 30 ± 9 years). Of the 92 patients, 72 (78%) had ACL reconstruction (6.0 ± 4.7 months postoperative) and 20 (22%)

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