The Intra-rater and Inter-rater Reliability of Intrinsic Foot Muscle Test in People with Flexible Flat Feet: A Psychometric Study

Introduction: Intrinsic foot muscles play an important role in supporting the medial-longitudinal arch and maintaining its stability. In individuals with flexible flat foot, the activity of these muscles decreases, leading to function impairment. Therefore, assessing the performance of the intrinsic foot muscles is critical for evaluating and monitoring the treatment progression in these individuals. The test that is commonly used these days to evaluate the performance of these muscles is the intrinsic foot muscle test. However, to make clinical decisions based on the results of this test, its reliability must be determined. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the intrinsic foot muscle test in individuals with flexible flat foot.Materials and Methods: In this study, the intrinsic foot muscles test was performed on ۳۰ young women with flexible flat foot, based on the Arch Height Ratio test. The assessment interval was one week for both raters. Quadratic Weighted Kappa test was used to evaluate intra-test and inter-test reliability. The results of each foot test were analyzed separately.Results: The intra-rater reliability based on the Kappa coefficient for the first rater was ۰.۵۰۸ and for the second rater was ۰.۴۹۲. Additionally, the inter-rater reliability for pre- and post-assessment was ۰.۴۷۲ and ۰.۴۸۱, respectively.Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the intrinsic foot muscles test was moderate. However, this test is the only one that evaluates the function of intrinsic foot muscles in maintaining the medial-longitudinal arch which can be easily performed in clinical settings. Also, it seems that the clinical experience of the therapist and proper training of individuals before performing this test are crucial.

کلیدواژه ها:

Pes planus ، Foot Arch ، Physical exam ، Rehabilitation ، Psychometrics