Bedside assessment of swallowing is of use in identifying patients at risk of developing complications. The value of routine screening with videofluoroscopy to detect aspiration is questioned.

This study investigated the reliability of measurements of ankle dorsiflexion obtained using the Lidcombe Template, an instrument that allows the magnitude and direction of force applied to dorsiflex the foot to be measured and standardised. Ten unimpaired physiotherapy students and 21 subjects who had suffered stroke were tested twice. Twenty minutes separated tests. Measurements of passive dorsiflexion range were highly reliable for both groups (r > 0.92) when the mean of three measurements was used. Significantly more variability occurred in measurements of impaired subjects than unimpaired subjects. For the subjects tested, for 95 per cent confidence that real differences exist between measurements taken 20 minutes apart, 7 degrees and 3 degrees must be allowed around measurements of impaired and unimpaired subjects respectively. These small error margins confer confidence in the potential utility of this instrument for measuring ankle dorsiflexion.