Intra- and Inter-Rater Reliability of Micro Manual Muscle Tester of the Lower Extremity in Children With Diplegia Cerebral Palsy

The Micro Manual Muscle Tester (MMMT) is a Hand-Held Dynamometer (HHD). The current study aimed to evaluate the intra- and inter-rater reliability of this device. To determine the reliability of the MMMT, two previously trained assessors to work with HHD performed HHD measurements on 7 muscle groups of the lower extremities (hip flexors, hip extensors, hip abductors, knee extensors, knee flexors, ankle plantar-, and dorsiflexors) using the make-test method. The study participants were evaluated thrice by two occupational therapists in 10 separate days. All the inter- and intra-correlations were reported as excellent (ICC>0.90), except for ICC2,3 in the hip flexor muscles; and ICC2,3 in the dorsiflexor muscles that were similarly good (ICC=0.75-0.89) at a high significance level (P˂0.001). The MMMT had an acceptable reliability. Furthermore, this device is useful for investigating changes in strength after rehabilitation interventions.