A New Concept of Estimating Tibiofibular Torsion: An In Vivo Reliability Study

Kotaro Tamari, Paul Tinley

This study investigated intrarater reliability of an alternative method of estimating tibiofibular torsion. When compared to a currently used clinical method of measurement, a new method (tibiofibular torsion index or TTI) had less variable measurements with higher intraclass correlation coefficients and a lower standard error of measurement. Therefore, the TTI may be clinically appropriate. TTI would provide useful information if combined with a clinical measurement of knee rotation when measuring lower leg alignment. While TTI may be a more reliable method of estimating tibiofibular torsion in vivo, further in vivo research is essential to compare the TTI measurements with tibiofibular torsion measured with computed tomography to estimate the validity of the method.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2003; 33(2):85-90.

Key Words: tibiofibular torsion, knee rotation, measurement

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