Date of Award
2006
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Physical Therapy
Supervisor
John Kramer
Abstract
PURPOSE: To determine if the goniometric and Modified Helfet Test (MHT)
methods of assessing tibial rotation, could distinguish between knees affected or unaffected by pathology and/or surgery. METHODS: Twenty-eight subjects with knee pathology diagnosed by a physician and with self-reported activity limitations were tested on one occasion using both methods. With subjects in sitting, the goniometric method used a standard goniometer to quantify the angle of the tibial surface relative to the subject’s sagittal plane in degrees of range of motion; whereas the MHT referenced the tibial tubercle relative to the patella, as
either producing external rotation (positive test) or not (negative test). DATA ANALYSIS: Activity limitation was categorized by having four levels of severity. A four-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the affected and
unaffected knees for the goniometric method. A Sign Test and a Chi Square test were used to examine the frequencies of positive and negative MHT scores. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences in degrees of tibial rotation
were observed between the affected and unaffected knees (p <0.01). No statistically significant differences were found between the frequencies of occurrences of positive and negative MHT results were found between knees (p
<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Neither the goniometric nor the MHT methods were able to distinguish between affected and unaffected knees. The utility of tibial rotation as a clinical measure needs to be re-examined.
Recommended Citation
Harris, Katherina M., "COMPARISON OF EXTERNAL TIBIAL ROTATION IN AFFECTED AND UNAFFECTED KNEES AS MEASURED BY TWO CLINICAL METHODS" (2006). Digitized Theses. 4936.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4936
