Abstract des Autors

The reliability of KT1000 knee arthrometer measurements has been established at a flexion angle of 20 degrees to 30 degrees. However, no studies have assessed its reliability at multiple joint positions. This study was conducted in order to compare the displacement at three positions (20, 45, and 90 degrees) and to determine the test-retest reliability at each position. Twenty subjects having no history of knee pathology participated in the study. A KT1000 knee arthrometer (MEDmetric Corporation, San Diego, CA) was positioned on the leg to measure anterior displacement of the proximal tibia at the three knee joint positions in random order. Post-hoc analysis indicated greater displacement at the 20 and 45 degrees positions than at the 90 degrees position. Intraclass correlation coefficients for the test-retest sessions were R = .92, .84, and .90 for the 20, 45, and 90 degrees positions, respectively. These findings suggest that the KT1000 is a reliable instrument for measurement of passive anterior displacement throughout the knee joint's range of motion. Injury to the anterior cruciate ligament may involve rupture of the entire ligament, or may be isolated to a particular portion of the ligament. As such, assessment of anterior displacement at multiple joint angles is recommended to most accurately evaluate the integrity of the anterior cruciate ligament. Verf.-Referat