Reliability of stabilised commercial dynamometers for measuring hip abduction strength: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND Reliable quantification of hip abductor strength in a clinical setting is challenging. OBJECTIVES To examine the intrarater and interrater reliability of three commonly used commercial dynamometers in the measurement of hip abduction. METHODS Supine gravity minimised measures of unilateral hip abduction strength were recorded in 10 women (mean (SD) age 23.5 (1.9) years) using three different commercially available dynameters. Measurements were repeated over a three day period with a different device used on each day. RESULTS Intrarater reliability ranged from 0.880 to 0.958 across the three devices, and measures of interrater reliability ranged from 0.899 to 0.948. CONCLUSION Commercially available dynamometers can be used to quantify hip abduction strength with good to excellent reliability. A previously undescribed method of quantifying hip abduction strength in a clinical setting using readily available instrumentation is presented.