A Comparison of 2 Techniques for Measuring Rectus Femoris Muscle Thickness in Cerebral Palsy

作者：Dew Ashley P; Moreau Noelle G^*

来源：Pediatric Physical Therapy, 2012, 24(3): 218-222.

DOI：10.1097/PEP.0b013e31825bcb77

• adolescence
• cerebral palsy
• child
• muscle strength/physiology
• quadriceps muscle/ultrasonography
• reliability and validity of measures

Purpose: Precise measures of muscle size are useful when investigating weakness in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine agreement between 2 muscle thickness measurements of the rectus femoris (RF) in CP. Methods: Measures of RF thickness in 13 youth with CP who were ambulatory (mean age: 14.4 +/- 3.6 years) were obtained bilaterally using ultrasound imaging. Three measures were obtained at 50% thigh length and averaged (MT50). Maximum muscle thickness (MaxMT) was also determined through repeated measurements toward the proximal insertion of the RF. Results: The Bland-Altman plot showed that all values, except for one outlier, fell within 95% limits of agreement (-0.11 to 0.28 cm), showing excellent agreement. However, a constant bias toward higher values with MaxMT method was observed. Conclusion: Given the time-consuming nature of obtaining MaxMT, the MT50 measurement may be a more feasible alternative when estimating maximum muscle thickness of the RF. (Pediatr Phys Ther 2012; 24: 218-222)

• 出版日期2012