The effect of alterations in the processing of proprioceptive signals, on postural control, has been studied using muscle vibration effects. However, reliability and agreement of muscle vibration have still to be addressed.This study aimed to assess intra- and interday reliability and agreement of vibration effects of lumbar paraspinal and triceps surae muscles in a non-selected sample of 20 subjects, standing on solid surface and on foam. We used mean position and velocity of Centre of Pressure (CoP), during and after vibration to quantify the effect of muscle vibration. We also calculated the ratio of vibration effects on the lumbar paraspinal and triceps surae muscles (proprioceptive weighting).Displacement of the CoP during vibration showed good reliability (ICCs. >. 0.6), and proprioceptive weighting of displacement fair to good reliability (0.52-0.73). Agreement measures were poor, with most CV's ranging between 18% and 36%. Change in CoP velocity appeared not to be reliable. Balance recovery, when based on CoP position and calculated a short period after cessation of vibration, showed good reliability. According to this study, displacement during vibration, proprioceptive weighting and selected recovery variables are the most reliable indicators of the response to muscle vibration.
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Objective. There are no Dutch language disease-specific questionnaires for patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome available that could help Dutch physiotherapists to assess and monitor these symptoms and functional limitations. The aim of this study was to translate the original disease-specific Kujala Patellofemoral Score into Dutch and evaluate its reliability. Methods. The questionnaire was translated from English into Dutch in accordance with internationally recommended guidelines. Reliability was determined in 50 stable subjects with an interval of 1 week. The patient inclusion criteria were age between 14 and 60 years; knowledge of the Dutch language; and the presence of at least three of the following symptoms: pain while taking the stairs, pain when squatting, pain when running, pain when cycling, pain when sitting with knees flexed for a prolonged period, grinding of the patella and a positive clinical patella test. The internal consistency, test–retest reliability, measurement error and limits of agreement were calculated. Results. Internal consistency was 0.78 for the first assessment and 0.80 for the second assessment. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCagreement) between the first and second assessments was 0.98. The mean difference between the first and second measurements was 0.64, and standard deviation was 5.51. The standard error measurement was 3.9, and the smallest detectable change was 11. The Bland and Altman plot shows that the limits of agreement are 10.37 and 11.65. Conclusions. The results of the present study indicated that the test–retest reliability translated Dutch version of the Kujala Patellofemoral Score questionnaire is equivalent of the test– retest original English language version and has good internal consistency. Trial registration NTR (TC = 3258). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The current study determined the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Adapted Short QUestionnaire to ASsess Health-enhancing physical activity (Adapted-SQUASH) in adults with disabilities. Before filling in the Adapted-SQUASH twice with a recall period of 2 weeks, participants wore the Actiheart activity monitor up to 1 week. For the test-retest reliability (N = 68), Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were 0.67 (p < 0.001) for the total activity score (min x intensity/week) and 0.76 (p < 0.001) for the total minutes of activity (min/week). For the concurrent validity (N = 58), the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.40 (p = 0.002) between the total activity score of the first administration of the Adapted-SQUASH and activity energy expenditure from the Actiheart (kcals kg-1 min-1). The ICC was 0.22 (p = 0.027) between the total minutes of activity assessed with the first administration of the Adapted-SQUASH and Actiheart. The Adapted-SQUASH is an acceptable measure to assess self-reported physical activity in large populations of adults with disabilities but is not applicable at the individual level due to wide limits of agreement. Self-reported physical activity assessed with the Adapted-SQUASH does not accurately represent physical activity assessed with the Actiheart in adults with disabilities, as indicated with a systematic bias between both instruments in the Bland-Altman analysis.
