Abstract
Isokinetic dynamometry is considered the standard for assessing strength in various muscle groups in the human body. Limited studies conducting the reliability of BIODEX Ⅲ isokinetic ankle inversion/eversion torque test. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of ankle inversion and eversion isokinetic strength measurement from the Biodex Ⅲ dynamometer. Twenty healthy volunteers (15 men and 5 women, age = 20.15 yrs, lit = 168.10 cm, wt = 63.21 kg) were recruited for the study. The subjects were tested bilaterally for subtalar-joint inversion and eversion isokinetic torque at 30º/s and 120º/s. Ten days following the initial test, a retest was administered using the identical protocol. Intra-class correlation coefficients(ICC) were used to determine the reliability of all ankle inversion and eversion test. The results showed that the ICC for peak torque from inversion/eversion at both speeds ranged from 0.74 to 0.96, 0.84 to 0.96 for mean power, 0.79 to 0.97 for mean peak torque and 0.74 to 0.85 for range of motion. Furthermore, the ICC value range from 0.74 to 0.96 at 30º/s and 0.74 to 0.97 at 12º/s in all test measurements. The results of this study suggested that when using a well defined clinical protocol, inversion and eversion subtalar-joint strength measurements from the Biodex Ⅲ isokinetic dynamometer are reliable (ICC≧0.74). These data may be used to support future clinical research of the isokinetic peak torque, mean power, mean peak torque and range of motion values of the ankle muscular at low and relatively high test speeds.