Reliability and validity of ankle proprioceptive measures

Objective: To determine the reliability and validity of ankle proprioceptive measures. Design: Reliability was assessed between test occasions. Construct validity was addressed by the ability of measures to differentiate among groups. Setting: Laboratory of an educational institution. Participants: Eight healthy adults were recruited into each of 3 groups: (1) young (20-39y), (2) middle-aged (40-59y), and (3) older adults (greater than or equal to60y). Four subjects from each group (n=12) participated in retesting. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Threshold for perception of passive movement, error in active reproduction of position, error in reproduction of velocity, and error in reproduction of torque. Results: Intersession reliability was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] range, .79-.95) for threshold for perception of movement, error in active reproduction, error in velocity reproduction, and error in dorsiflexion torque reproduction; intersession reliability was good for error in reproduction of plantarflexion torque (ICC=.72). Threshold for perception of movement differed between groups 1 and 3 and between groups 2 and 3 (P<.05). Error in reproduction of position was greater in group 2 than in group 1 (P<.05). Conclusion: Differences in proprioception between the older and the 2 younger groups were best detected by using threshold for perception of passive movement. (C) 2003 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.