Commentary on 'Isometric muscle strength in youth assessed by hand-held dynamometry: a feasibility, reliability, and validity study'.

摘要

"How should I apply this information?"As pediatric therapists, we are consistently looking for valid, reproducible, and objective ways to measure the strength of our clients. Traditional methods of manual muscle testing and Cybex strength testing have their limitations. The validity of manual muscle testing is especially questionable with younger children and is often compromised by the subjectivity between assignments of strength grades 4 and 5. Cybex equipment is costly and requires user training and space for housing. With these clinical challenges in mind, inexpensive, easily accessible, hand-held dynamometer (HHD) devices may provide a promising alternative. This study demonstrates that using HHD for assessing strength has acceptable inter- and intrarater reliability and concurrent validity with values found with Cybex testing for most muscle groups that were tested. This is not only valuable for clinical practice, but essential for evidenced-based research. In addition, insurers often want concrete proof of intervention effectiveness, which HHD values could provide. Finally, the protocol developed in this study offers therapists specific guidelines for use of HHD in the pediatric client, which has been lacking in the literature.