Correlation between goniometric and photogrammetric assessment of shank-forefoot alignment in athletes

Abstract

Background: The shank-forefoot alignment (SFA) measurement has been previously developed to enhance the applicability of foot alignment measurement in sports preseason assessment because it is reliable and less time consuming. The use of SFA measurements in the clinical context, usually done with photogrammetry, may be simplified by using the universal goniometer and no longer requiring the image processing step that takes additional time and equipment.

Objective: Investigate the correlation between the goniometric and photogrammetric assessment of shank-forefoot alignment in athletes.

Participants: Thirty volleyball athletes were recruited during a preseason assessment.

Methods: SFA measurements were assessed with a universal goniometer and photogrammetry. For both assessments the participants were positioned in prone with the rearfoot facing up and the ankle actively maintained in 90° of dorsiflexion. The examiner did not have access to the SFA outcome values from both measurements. A second examiner did the bi-dimensional analysis with SIMI MOTION (photogrammetric measure) and read the goniometer measures during the other SFA assessment. Data normality was tested using Shapiro-Wilk test and Pearson was used to determine the correlation between both measurements.

Results: A reliability study determined the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC3,3) for intra-rater reliability of 0.93 for photogrammetry and of 0.81 for goniometry assessment. The correlation (p < 0.001) between these two measurements was 0.71, which indicates a moderate relationship.

Conclusions: This study describes a reliable and practical measurement procedure for shank-forefoot alignment using the universal goniometer that can be easily applied in clinical context.

Keywords: Biomechanics; Foot; Injury; Measurement; Sport.