Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Basic Science

Background:Methods of objective assessment of range of motion are limited, one of the best but expensive standardized methods is the electro-goniometer, and one of the new methods that arises recently is the laser goniometer.Purpose:The purpose of this study was:1) to investigate the concurrent validity of the laser goniometer via correlating and comparing its repeated measures with those of electro-goniometer considering the electro-goniometer as the reference standard. 2) to investigate theintra-rater reliability of the laser goniometer through measuring the degree of consistencyof its readingsonrepeated measures.Subjects:participants in this study wereone hundred healthy male students and colleagues at MisrUniversity for Science and Technology. Their ages ranged between 20-30 years.Methods:Average ofthree consecutive measures was taken by the same examiner forthe active range of motion of cervical, shoulder and knee bilaterallyfor each subject by each of the laser and electro-goniometers, keeping the standardization of measurement procedures,subjects{u2019} positions and stabilizationsconstant all over the measurement period.Research design:A one group within-subject test research design was used in this study. Results:1)Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and paired T-testhad been used to investigate the concurrent validity of the laser goniometer.The results of correlation coefficient values showed moderate relation for cervical flexion and strong relation for all other cervical motions,and very strong relation for bilateral shoulder flexion, external and internal rotation and right knee flexion motions, and excellent relation for bilateral shoulder abduction and left knee flexion movements.Also there was no significant difference between measures obtained by both devices for all movements except for cervical flexion which showed that the laser goniometer provided significantly higher readings than those of the electro-goniometer.2) Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC)had been used to investigate the intra-rater reliability of the laser goniometer and the results revealed thatthe laser goniometer has provedvery high reliability values

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