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Is digital photography an accurate and precise method for measuring range of motion of the hip and knee?

Overview of attention for article published in Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics, September 2017
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Title
Is digital photography an accurate and precise method for measuring range of motion of the hip and knee?
Published in
Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics, September 2017
DOI 10.1186/s40634-017-0103-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Russell R. Russo, Matthew B. Burn, Sabir K. Ismaily, Brayden J. Gerrie, Shuyang Han, Jerry Alexander, Christopher Lenherr, Philip C. Noble, Joshua D. Harris, Patrick C. McCulloch

Abstract

Accurate measurements of knee and hip motion are required for management of musculoskeletal pathology. The purpose of this investigation was to compare three techniques for measuring motion at the hip and knee. The authors hypothesized that digital photography would be equivalent in accuracy and show higher precision compared to the other two techniques. Using infrared motion capture analysis as the reference standard, hip flexion/abduction/internal rotation/external rotation and knee flexion/extension were measured using visual estimation, goniometry, and photography on 10 fresh frozen cadavers. These measurements were performed by three physical therapists and three orthopaedic surgeons. Accuracy was defined by the difference from the reference standard, while precision was defined by the proportion of measurements within either 5° or 10°. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), t-tests, and chi-squared tests were used. Although two statistically significant differences were found in measurement accuracy between the three techniques, neither of these differences met clinical significance (difference of 1.4° for hip abduction and 1.7° for the knee extension). Precision of measurements was significantly higher for digital photography than: (i) visual estimation for hip abduction and knee extension, and (ii) goniometry for knee extension only. There was no clinically significant difference in measurement accuracy between the three techniques for hip and knee motion. Digital photography only showed higher precision for two joint motions (hip abduction and knee extension). Overall digital photography shows equivalent accuracy and near-equivalent precision to visual estimation and goniometry.

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Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 61 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 61 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Doctoral Student 8 13%
Student > Bachelor 7 11%
Student > Master 7 11%
Researcher 7 11%
Other 4 7%
Other 3 5%
Unknown 25 41%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 17 28%
Nursing and Health Professions 11 18%
Engineering 3 5%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 1 2%
Sports and Recreations 1 2%
Other 3 5%
Unknown 25 41%