OBJECTIVE To develop a new assessment procedure, the Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP), that allows contextual results of hand function to be obtained readily in a clinical environment. DESIGN Reliability (test-retest, interrater) and validity (criterion, content) of new assessment procedure against standard medical outcome measure techniques. SETTING Normative data collected in ...

This study investigated the reliability and concurrent validity of active shoulder elevation in the scapular plane (scaption) using a digital inclinometer and goniometer. Two investigators used a goniometer and digital inclinometer to measure scaption on 30 asymptomatic participants in a blinded repeated measures design. Good reliability was present with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC...

This investigation developed the Wheelchair Users Functional Assessment (WUFA). Because no functional outcome tools exist that include many of the daily activities that are needed to be independent by individuals using manual wheelchairs, development of an appropriate tool was deemed important. Although the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) can be used to assess disability in those using a ...

OBJECTIVE The serial quantification of MRI lesion load in multiple sclerosis provides an effective tool for monitoring disease progression and this has led to its increasing use as an outcome measure in treatment trials. Segmentation techniques must display a high degree of precision and reliability if they are to be responsive to small changes over time. This study has evaluated the performanc...

BACKGROUND Severity of the primary unilateral cleft lip/nose deformity (UCL/N) is postulated to play a key role in postoperative complications, aesthetic result, and need for secondary surgery. There is no validated and widely accepted classification scheme of initial cleft severity. The purpose of this study was to validate the Unilateral Cleft Lip Cleft Severity Index as a reliable tool for e...

CONTEXT Landing kinematics have been identified as a risk factor for knee injury. Detecting atypical kinematics in clinical settings is important for identifying individuals at risk for these injuries. OBJECTIVE To determine the reliability of a handheld tablet and application (app) for measuring lower-extremity kinematics during drop vertical-jump landings. DESIGN Measurement reliability. ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Muscle weakness frequently impairs the ability to maintain upright sitting in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The primary purpose of this study was to examine the intrarater and interrater reliability of hand-held dynamometry to assess postural muscle strength for maintaining upright sitting in individuals with SCI. We also assessed reliability of forces measur...

Purpose: To investigate the interrater reliability of inter-rectus distance (IRD) measured from ultrasound images acquired at rest and during a head-lift task in parous women and to establish the standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimal detectable change (MDC) between two raters. Methods: Two physiotherapists independently acquired ultrasound images of the anterior abdominal wall from 17...

OBJECTIVES Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians receive little opportunity to practice and perform chest tube insertion. We sought to develop and validate a scoring tool to assess chest tube insertion competency and identify areas where training is required for PEM physicians. METHODS We developed a 40-point, 20-item (scored 0, 1, or 2) assessment tool entitled the Tool for Assessing...