The test-retest reliability of different ankle joint center
location techniques

Graydon, R; Fewtrell, DJ; Atkins, SJ; Sinclair, JK

Abstract

Accurate and reliable joint identification is imperative for the collection of meaningful kinetic and
kinematic data. Of the lower kinetic chain both the hip and knee joints have received a considerable
amount of attention in 3D modelling. However, the reliability of methods to define the ankle joint
center have received very little attention. This study investigated the reliability of the two marker
method (TMM) and the functional ankle method (FAM) on estimating the ankle joint center.
Furthermore, the effects of the two-marker method reliability for defining the ankle joint center
when the ankle was covered with a brace or protector was investigated. 3D kinematic data was
collected from ten participants (8 female and 2 male) whilst walking. The ankle joint center was
defined twice using each test condition; TMM (WITHOUT), FAM (FUNCTIONAL), TMM when
the ankle was covered with a brace (BRACE), and TMM when the ankle was covered with a
protector (PROTECTOR). Intraclass correlations (ICC) were utilised to compare test and retest
waveforms and paired samples t-tests were used to compare angular parameters. Significant
differences were found in the test-retest angular parameters in the transverse and sagittal planes for
the WITHOUT, BRACE, and FUNCTIONAL conditions. The strongest test-retest ICC’s were
observed in the WITHOUT and PROTECTOR conditions. The findings of the current
investigation indicate that there are fewer errors using the TMM when the ankle is uncovered or
when covered with soft foam that is easy to palpate through.
Keywords: Biomechanics, motion analysis, gait analysis, ankle, reliability

Citation

location techniques. Foot & ankle journal (Online), 8(1), https://doi.org/10.3827/faoj.2015.0801.0011

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Mar 31, 2015
• Publication Date: Mar 31, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 7, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 7, 2017
• Journal: The Foot and Ankle Online Journal
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3827/faoj.2015.0801.0011
• Publisher URL: https://faoj.org/2015/03/31/the-test-retest-reliability-of-different-ankle-joint-center-location-techniques/
• Related Public URLs: https://faoj.org/