Abstract
Purpose/Background: Hand-held dynamometers are commonly used to assess plantarflexor strength during rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to determine the concurrent validity of measuring plantarflexion force using a hand-held dynamometer (HHD) as compared to an electromechanical dynamometer as the gold standard. The hypothesis was that plantarflexor forces obtained using a hand-held dynamometer would not show absolute agreement with a criterion standard.
Design: Concurrent validity assessment for a diagnostic strength testing device.
Setting: Institutional clinic and research laboratory
Participants: Volunteer sample of healthy university students (N=20, 10 women, 10 men; 25.9 +/- 4.1 years).
Main Outcome Measure(s): Maximal plantarflexion strength was measured using both a HHD and an electromechanical dynamometer (EMD) as a criterion measure.
Results: Plantarflexor force measures with the HHD were significantly different (p<0.01) and not correlated with plantarflexor forces measured using the EMD for either limb (R-2 <= 0.09).
Conclusions: Plantarflexor strength measurements acquired using HHD are different from those acquired using an EMD and are likely influenced by the strength of the examiner.