Zeitschrift für neuartige Physiotherapien

Abstrakt

Retest Repeatability of Motor and Musculoskeletal Fitness Tests for Public Health Monitoring of Adult Populations

Jaana Helena Suni, Marjo Birgitta Rinne and Jonatan R Ruiz

Background and purpose: Physical fitness reflects the effects of regular physical activity and is an important prognostic factor of health. Field tests of fitness can be used for public health monitoring, but their accuracy for this purpose needs to be determined. The purpose was to evaluate the adequacy of retest repeatability of nine tests of motor and musculoskeletal fitness against preset criteria.

Methods: One week test-retest measurements with a single tester design were conducted. The participants we volunteers, 25 women and 26 men between ages 22 and 64. The main repeatability estimates of within subject variation were the typical error of measurement and coefficient of variation (CV). For ordinal scale measurements weighted Kappa coefficients were calculated. The CV values 10% or lower and kappa coefficient >0.60 were rated as adequately reliable for public health monitoring. In addition, the systematic chance and percent change in the mean were calculated.

Results: Six tests out of nine showed adequate repeatability (CV ≤ 10% or Kappa coefficient >0.60): agility in of eight run, handgrip strength, lower extremity power in vertical jump, upper body muscular strength and trunk stabilization in modified push-up, muscular endurance in static back extension, and shoulder-neck mobility. Retest learning effect was detected for backwards tandem walk and modified push-up tests. Reliability of two tests was not studied due to a ceiling effect in results towards maximum values. High level of physical activity and fitness of the participants reduced the intra-and inter-individual variation of the test results compared to general population.

Conclusions: Present study provided further knowledge on reliable fitness tests suitable for population monitoring of musculoskeletal functioning and health. These tests may also be used as outcome measures to follow the effects of exercise interventions target to participants with musculoskeletal problems.