Objective To compare the reliability and validity of the Korean range of motion standard protocol (KRSP) for measuring joint range of motion (ROM) with those of the conventional ROM measurement using a goniometer. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 91 healthy elderly individuals. We compared two strategies of measuring joint ROM to evaluate the reliability and validity of each standardized protocol: first, the KRSP based on the Chungnam National University guidelines and second, handheld goniometric measurement. In the first strategy, 3 examiners (1 rehabilitation doctor, 1 physical therapist, and 1 physical therapy student) independently measured joint ROM in 46 randomly selected subjects; in the second strategy, another 3 examiners (1 rehabilitation doctor, 1 physical therapist, and 1 physical therapy student) measured joint ROM in 45 randomly selected subjects. The reliability of each protocol was calculated using intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC(2,1), and root mean square error (RMSE). Results Both protocols showed good to excellent intra-rater reliability. With goniometer use, the inter-rater reliability was low-ICC(2,1), 95% confidence interval ranged from 0.643 (0.486-0.783) to-0.078 (-0.296-0.494)and RMSE was high. With the KRSP, the inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.846 (0.686-0.931) to 0.986 (0.972-0.994) and RMSE was low. Conclusion ROM measurements using the KRSP showed excellent reliability. These results indicate that this protocol can be the reference standard for measuring ROM in clinical settings as an alternative to goniometers.

P-wave characteristic in the human electrocardiogram (ECG) is important in the diagnosis of atrial conduction pathology. In this paper, we measured an ECG signal from patient with cardiovascular disease using one lead ECG electrode system which is based on the wireless cardiac monitoring system. And we detected a P-wave in ECG signal using the complex-valued continuous wavelet transforms (CWT) according to two kinds of patch type electrodes such as an existing narrow patch type electrode and the improved wide patch type electrode presented in this paper. Also, we compared the characteristics in detecting the P-wave in terms of the magnitude and the width of P-waves. From the results of comparison we found that the width and the magnitude of P-wave detected using the wide patch type electrode is improved to be interpreted easier compared to those using the narrow patch type electrode. Furthermore, we have also proven that the complex-valued CWT can be used as a robust detector for P-wave in ECG signal analysis.

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