OBJECTIVES: To establish the reliability, accuracy and concurrent validity of electrogoniometers for measuring extreme lower extremity movements. STUDY DESIGN: Reliability, accuracy and validity study. Methods: This project employed two experiments. Investigation I determined electrogoniometer accuracy compared to a digital protractor. Investigation II compared electrogoniometers to a criterion measure, motion analysis, in sagittal plane dance movements in 17 dancers. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM) were calculated for hip, knee, and ankle sagittal plane angular displacements. RESULTS: In Investigation I, electrogoniometer to protractor correlations were high (r > or = 0.998, SEM < or =3.65 degrees ). In Investigation II, instrument and intra-rater reliability correlations were high (r > or = 0.983 and r > or = 0.972, SEM < or = 3.49 degrees and < or =4.48 degrees ), as were concurrent validity correlations (r > or = 0.949, SEM < or =6.80 degrees ) to motion analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This error may be acceptable for lower extremity studies with extreme movements when motion capture is unavailable.
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