Intra － and Inter－Rater Reliability of Measuring Passive Range of Shoulder Motion With Smartphone and Goniometer in Patients With Stroke

The purpose of this study were to determine the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of shoulder passive range of motion measurement using the “Clinometer + bubble level”, a smartphone application and to compare with the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of measurement using a goniometer. Twenty six patients with stroke were recruited for this study. Two raters measured the passive range of motion of four types of shoulder movements (forward flexion; FF, abduction; ABD, external rotation at 90° abduction; ER90 and internal rotation at 90 ° abduction; IR90) using a goniometer and a smartphone to determine within-day inter-rater reliability. A retest session was performed thirty minutes later to determine within-day intra-rater reliability. The reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and the standard error of measurement (SEM). The ICC (2,1) for the inter-rater reliabilities of the goniometer and smartphone were good in FF and ABD [ICC (2,1)=.75∼.87] and excellent in ER90 [ICC (2,1)=.90∼.95]. The intra-rater reliabilities for the goniometer and smartphone were good or more than good, with an ICC (3,1) value>.75, the exception was IR90 measured by rater 2 on the smartphone. These results suggest that smartphone could be used as an alternative method too