Intratester and intertester reliability of the STP electronic inclinometer

Abstract

This study determined the intratester and intertester reliability of the STP Electronic Inclinometer for measuring lumbar flexion. Twenty-eight college age female volunteers were tested on two occasions by two testers. Pearson product-moment correlations for the intertester reliability were .72 for day one and .65 for day two. Analysis of variance was used to derive intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for intratester reliability of true lumbar flexion measurements. Intraclass correlation coefficients were .92 for tester one and .88 for tester two. There were no significant differences (p < .05) between the means within each tester. ANOVA was used to derive ICC for intratester reliabilities for separate lumbar measurements used to determine true lumbar flexion. The ICC of gross lumbar flexion measured at thoracic number 12 and pelvis-hip flexion measured at the sacrum for tester one were .99 for both sites. For tester two the ICC for gross lumbar flexion and pelvis-hip flexion were .98 for both sites. There were no significant differences (p < .05) between the means for each measure within each tester. The results suggest that the STP Electronic Inclinometer has acceptable intratester and intertester reliability. More research is needed on clinical patients with spinal dysfunction.