Clinician Reliability of One-Handed Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization Forces During a Simulated Treatment

Clinicians utilize instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) to identify and treat myofascial dysfunction or pathology. Currently, little is known regarding the ability of clinicians to provide similar IASTM forces across treatment sessions. The authors' purpose was to quantify clinician reliability of force application during a simulated IASTM treatment scenario. Five licensed athletic trainers with previous IASTM training (mean credential experience= 5.2 [4.3] y; median = 5 y) performed 15 one-handed unidirectional sweeping strokes with each of the 3 instruments on 2 consecutive days for a total of 90 data points each. The IASTM stroke application was analyzed for peak normal forces (F-peak) and mean normal forces (F-mean) by stroke across 2 sessions. The authors' findings indicate IASTM trained clinicians demonstrated sufficient F-peak and F-mean reliability across a treatment range during a one-handed IASTM treatment. Future research should examine if IASTM applied at different force ranges influences patient outcomes.

Automated summary

This study aimed to assess the reliability of force application by clinicians during a simulated IASTM treatment. The results showed that clinicians trained in IASTM were able to provide sufficiently reliable force application during the treatment process.