Abstract
BackgroundShort hamstring muscles can cause several problems for children with cerebral palsy. The results of the clinical measurement of hamstring length are often used in decision-making about treatment of children with cerebral palsy. There are different ways of performing this measurement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the interrater reliability of the unilateral and bilateral measurement of the popliteal angle in children and youth with cerebral palsy.MethodsTwo methods for estimating hamstring length using unilateral and bilateral measurements of the popliteal angle were applied in children with cerebral palsy. Both tests were applied bilaterally by two independent examiners on the same day for each child. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated to evaluate the interrater reliability of both measurements. Seventy young people with cerebral palsy (32 females, 38 males, mean age 10 years 8 months, range 5–22 years) at Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I (n = 17), II (n = 31), III (n = 12) and IV (n = 10) were included.ResultsThe interrater reliability was good for both measurements. The ICC values were 0.80 on the right and 0.86 on the left for the unilateral popliteal angle, and 0.82 on the right and 0.83 on the left for the bilateral popliteal angle.ConclusionsBoth unilateral and bilateral measurement of the popliteal angle is a reliable method for estimating hamstring length in children and youth with cerebral palsy.
Highlights
IntroductionThe results of the clinical measurement of hamstring length are often used in decision-making about treatment of children with cerebral palsy
Short hamstring muscles can cause several problems for children with cerebral palsy
Reduced muscle length is a common problem among children with cerebral palsy because of the effects of this non-progressive brain disorder and secondary problems such as spasticity, immobility, pathological muscle growth and fewer satellite cells compared with children
Summary
The results of the clinical measurement of hamstring length are often used in decision-making about treatment of children with cerebral palsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the interrater reliability of the unilateral and bilateral measurement of the popliteal angle in children and youth with cerebral palsy. Two of five gait patterns described for unilateral cerebral palsy and three of four described for bilateral cerebral palsy involve limited knee extension and potential short hamstring muscles. There are different ways of performing this test, two of which are unilateral and bilateral measurements of the popliteal angle. The results of the clinical measurement of hamstring length are often used in decision-making about treatment and when evaluating the treatment of children with cerebral palsy [9, 13, 14]. Given the lack of other convenient methods for estimating hamstring length in daily clinical practice and the need for this information for decisionmaking, it is important to know the reliability of the measurements in current use
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