Reliability of ultrasound for measurement of selected foot structures

Crofts, GS; Angin, S; Mickle, KJ; Hill, S; Nester, CJ

Abstract

Background: Understanding the relationship between the lower leg muscles, foot structures and function
is essential to explain how disease or injury may relate to changes in foot function and clinical pathology.
The aim of this study was to investigate the inter-operator reliability of an ultrasound protocol to
quantify features of: rear, mid and forefoot sections of the plantar fascia (PF); flexor hallucis brevis (FHB);
flexor digitorum brevis (FDB); abductor hallucis (AbH); flexor digitorum longus (FDL); flexor hallucis
longus (FHL); tibialis anterior (TA); and peroneus longus and brevis (PER).
Methods: A sample of 6 females and 4 males (mean age 29.1 x 7.2 years, mean BMI 25.5 x 4.8) was
recruited from a university student and staff population. Scans were obtained using a portable Venue 40
musculoskeletal ultrasound system (GE Healthcare UK) with a 5–13 MHz wideband linear array probe with a
12.7 mm x 47.1 mm footprint by two operators in the same scanning session.
Results: Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) values for muscle thickness (ICC range 0.90–0.97),
plantar fascia thickness (ICC range 0.94–0.98) and cross sectional muscle measurements (ICC range
0.91–0.98) revealed excellent inter-operator reliability. The limits of agreement, relative to structure
size, ranged from 9.0% to 17.5% for muscle thickness, 11.0–18.0% for plantar fascia, and 11.0–26.0% for
cross sectional area measurements.
Conclusions: The ultrasound protocol implemented in this work has been shown to be reliable. It
therefore offers the opportunity to quantify the structures concerned and better understand their
contributions to foot function.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 27, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Jun 20, 2013
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Nov 14, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Gait & Posture
• Print ISSN: 0966-6362
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-2219
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 35-39
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2013.05.022
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2013.05.022
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/gait-and-posture/