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Medicina dello Sport 2019 September;72(3):404-21

DOI: 10.23736/S0025-7826.19.03523-3

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of scapular asymmetry measurements in male professional volleyball players

Eleftherios PARASKEVOPOULOS ✉ , Dimitrios SASATI, Maria PAPANDREOU

Department of Physiotherapy, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece

BACKGROUND: Scapular asymmetries (SA) have been implicated as possible causes for shoulder diseases. Several evaluation methods of SA have been proposed. Less is known about the intra-rater and the inter-rater reliability of these methods in professional volleyball players. This study aimed to establish the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of five different methods for quantifying SA in professional volleyball players.
METHODS: Ten male asymptomatic professional volleyball players were recruited (age: 30.5±2.67 years, BMI: 23.1±0.32 kg/m2). The first method measured height asymmetries of the scapulae, the second method measured the difference in the distance between the scapulae from the spine, the third method measured the difference in the posterior displacement of each scapula from the thoracic cage with a modified caliper, the fourth and the fifth method measured the posterior displacement of both scapulae from the thoracic cage in a static and a dynamic position, respectively.
RESULTS: Reliability values for the first and the second method were excellent for the inter-rater (ICC: 0.90-0.97; SEM: 0.17-0.16) and the intra-rater (ICC: 0.90-0.98; SEM: 0.16-0.13) evaluation. For the third method, the inter-rater and the intra-rater values were good to excellent (ICC: 0.84-0.92; SEM: 0.23-0.13). The last two methods showed good to acceptable inter-rater (ICC: 0.70-0.68; SEM: 0.23-0.27) and intra-rater values (ICC: 0.66-0.77; SEM: 0.20 for both). The Bland and Altman analysis did not reveal any systematic bias in any method.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that these five evaluation methods are reliable for the assessment of SA in asymptomatic overhead athletes.

KEY WORDS: Reproducibility of results; Scapula; Volleyball