Inter and Intra-Rater Reliability of Measuring Photometric Craniovertebral Angle Using a Cloud-Based Video Communication Platform

摘要

Due to social distancing guidelines during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, most providers and patients have wanted to avoid close contact. This makes physical therapy (PT) assessments difficult because of the lack of empirical evidence about the reliability of various clinical measurements performed in a virtual environment. One such procedure is the photometric measurement of craniovertebral (CV) angle. Craniovertebral angle measurement is usually performed in an outpatient setting and is defined as the acute angle formed between a straight line connecting the spinous process of C7 to the tragus of the ear, and the horizontal line passing through the spinous process of the C7. Although the photometric measurement of CV angles is considered both valid and reliable in the clinics, no empirical evidence exists about the CV angle measurement reliability when performed in a virtual environment. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the inter- and intra-rater reliability of photometric CV angle measurement using a cloud-based video communication platform. Number of Subjects: 66 subjects (57 females).