Scientific articlePalmar Abduction: Reliability of 6 Measurement Methods in Healthy Adults
Section snippets
Subjects
Measurements were performed on the right hands of 25 healthy subjects recruited at the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. Subjects had no prior injury to the upper extremity or systemic conditions affecting the muscular or nervous system. The group consisted of 9 men and 16 women, of whom 3 were left-handed. Mean age of the subjects was 30 years (standard deviation ± 7 years).
This study was approved by the medical ethics committee, and written informed consent was obtained from each subject.
Measurements
All
Mean values
Table 1 shows means, SDs, and ranges of angular and distance measurement methods for palmar abduction. It can be seen that mean active and passive angles measured with goniometry were comparable with Pollexograph-thumb values. Goniometry and Pollexograph-thumb means ranged from 57° to 64°, whereas Pollexograph-metacarpal mean angles were smaller, ranging from 47° to 49°.
Mean active and passive distances of the AMA method were 67 to 70 mm from the distal palmar crease to the IP joint. Mean
Discussion
The goal of our study was to compare reliability of the most common measurement methods for palmar thumb abduction. Although conventional goniometry may be used most often in daily clinical practice, it was found to be unreliable. The significantly smaller SDDs and SEMs for intrarater and interrater reliability indicated that the Pollexograph-thumb, Pollexograph-metacarpal, and the IMD methods were the most reliable methods for measuring palmar abduction.
There are many definitions of palmar
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We thank the NUTS-OHRA Foundation for their financial contribution to support this study.
Support was received from the NutsOhra Foundation.