Abstract
Munguía-Izquierdo D, Legaz-Arrese A. Reliability and validity of a low load endurance
strength test for upper and lower extremities in patients with fibromyalgia.
Objective
To evaluate the reliability, standard error of the mean (SEM), clinical significant
change, and known group validity of 2 assessments of endurance strength to low loads
in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FS).
Design
Cross-sectional reliability and comparative study.
Setting
University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain.
Participants
Middle-aged women with FS (n=95) and healthy women (n=64) matched for age, weight,
and body mass index (BMI) were recruited for the study.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
The endurance strength to low loads tests of the upper and lower extremities and anthropometric
measures (BMI) were used for the evaluations. The differences between the readings
(tests 1 and 2) and the SDs of the differences, intraclass correlation coefficient
(ICC) model (2,1), 95% confidence interval for the ICC, coefficient of repeatability,
intrapatient SD, SEM, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Bland-Altman plots were used
to examine reliability. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the differences in test values between the patient group
and the control group. We hypothesized that patients with FS would have an endurance
strength to low loads performance in lower and upper extremities at least twice as
low as that of the healthy controls.
Results
Satisfactory test-retest reliability and SEMs were found for the lower extremity,
dominant arm, and nondominant arm tests (ICC=.973–.979; P<.001; SEMs=1.44–1.66 repetitions). The differences in the mean between the test and
retest were lower than the SEM for all performed tests, varying from −.10 to .29 repetitions.
No significant differences were found between the test and retest (P>.05 for all). The Bland-Altman plots showed 95% limits of agreement for the lower
extremity (4.7 to –4.5), dominant arm (3.8 to –4.4), and nondominant arm (3.9 to –4.1)
tests. The endurance strength to low loads test scores for the patients with FS were
4-fold lower than for the controls in all performed tests (P<.001 for all).
Conclusions
The endurance strength to low loads tests showed good reliability and known group
validity and can be recommended for evaluating endurance strength to low loads in
patients with FS. For individual evaluation, however, an improved score of at least
4 and 5 repetitions for the upper and lower extremities, respectively, was required
for the differences to be considered as substantial clinical change. Patients with
FS showed impaired endurance strength to low loads performance when compared with
the general population.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
BMI (body mass index), CI (confidence interval), ICC (intraclass correlation coefficient), FS (fibromyalgia syndrome), SEM (standard error of the mean)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 27, 2012
Footnotes
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
In-press corrected proof published online on Apr 4, 2012, at www.archives-pmr.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
