Reliability of assisted indentation in measuring lumbar spinal stiffness

Reliability, Validity, and Precision of a Handheld Myometer for Assessing in Vivo Muscle Stiffness

“…These values are comparable to reliability of other methods of stiffness calculation presented in the literature demonstrating ICCs ranging from .88 to .96. 15,16 The extremely low SEMs, ranging from 5.6% to 12.6% of the mean stiffness values, demonstrate excellent precision of the measurement when compared across trials. This is comparable to other methods presented in the literature that demonstrated SEMs ranging from 5.7% to 8.0% of the mean stiffness values.…”

Device, protocol and measurement of regional spinal stiffness

“…However, neither data for normal stiffness value nor a standard method of measuring spinal stiffness has been reported and accepted by most clinicians. There have been technical advances reporting devices to measure PA stiffness (Lee and Svensson, 1990;Lee and Evans, 1992;Latimer et al, 1996;Edmondston et al, 1998;Stanton and Kawchuk, 2009;Latimer et al, 1998;Latimer et al, 1996). Recent advance in PA stiffness measuring device has been reported by .…”

“…On the contrary Latimer et al (1996) used their device for stiffness measurement on an unpadded testing bed. Though not specifically mentioned by Caling and Lee (2001) it would appear from their illustration that their subjects lay on a rigid surface, and Stanton and Kawchuk (2009) do not indicate if they used plinth for their subjects when testing for stiffness. Reconciling these two factors it was decided to use a standard clinical plinth used in most clinical facilities (Make: Hill Adjustable).…”

Cervical spine posteroanterior stiffness differs with neck position

“…Although spinal stiffness has been quantified in vivo in numerous studies using the applied force to displacement relationship (Colloca and Keller, 2004;Hodges et al, 2005;Owens et al, 2007b;Stanton and Kawchuk, 2009), there are some reports that question whether a linear measurement of stiffness is adequate as stiffness is potentially a multidimensional construct (Marcotte et al, 2005;Nicholson et al, 2001). It is possible that more complex methods may be needed to detect all the clinically relevant components of spinal stiffness.…”