Open AccessReliability and normative values for the foot mobility magnitude: a composite measure of vertical and medial‐lateral mobility of the midfoot
Author(s) -
McPoil Thomas G,
Vicenzino Bill,
Cornwall Mark W,
Collins Natalie,
Warren Meghan
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of foot and ankle research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.763
H-Index - 39
ISSN - 1757-1146
DOI - 10.1186/1757-1146-2-6
Subject(s) - weight bearing , navicular bone , medicine , reliability (semiconductor) , foot (prosody) , magnitude (astronomy) , arch , orthodontics , bearing (navigation) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , surgery , structural engineering , cartography , physics , power (physics) , linguistics , philosophy , quantum mechanics , astronomy , engineering , geography
Background A study was conducted to determine the reliability and minimal detectable change for a new composite measure of the vertical and medial‐lateral mobility of the midfoot called the foot mobility magnitude. Methods Three hundred and forty‐five healthy participants volunteered to take part in the study. The change in dorsal arch height between weight bearing and non‐weight bearing as well as the change in midfoot width between weight bearing and non‐weight bearing were measured at 50% of total foot length and used to calculate the foot mobility magnitude. The reliability and minimal detectable change for the measurements were then determined based on the assessment of the measurements by three raters with different levels of clinical experience. Results The change in dorsal arch height between weight bearing and non‐weight bearing, midfoot width between weight bearing and non‐weight bearing, and the foot mobility magnitude were shown to have high levels of intra‐rater and inter‐rater reliability. Normative data are provided for the left and right feet of both the female (n = 211) and male (n = 134) subjects. Conclusion While the measurements of navicular drop and drift have been used as a clinical method to assess both the vertical and medial‐lateral mobility of the midfoot, poor to fair levels of inter‐rater reliability have been reported. The results of the current study suggest that the foot mobility magnitude provides the clinician and researcher with a highly reliable measure of vertical and medial‐lateral midfoot mobility.