Introduction: Muscle performance is an important physical function that is assessed as part of a physiotherapy examination. There are several methods for testing muscle performance, including hand-held dynamometry. Hand-held dynamometry provides a quantified, objective measurement of muscle strength, is simple, affordable, and suitable for clinical use. Purpose: The aim of this work was to investigate the repeatability and reliability of isometric trunk muscle dynamometry using a hand-held dynamometer. Methods: Thirty healthy women with an average age of 21.9 (1.3) years participated in the study. The measurements were performed in two sessions within a 48-hour interval. In each session, subjects performed one submaximal contraction to familiarise themselves with the measurement procedure and three maximal isometric contractions of each muscle group. Results: Statistically significant differences were found between the consecutive measurements of maximal isometric muscle force of the right lateral trunk flexors in the first session, the right trunk rotators, and the left trunk rotators in the second session. A statistically significant difference was also found in the first measurement between the first and second sessions for the extensors, right lateral flexors, and left trunk rotators. The repeatability of the measurements ranged from moderate to excellent. The lowest intraclass correlation coefficient value was found for the right trunk rotators force measurements in the first session (ICC = 0.702), while the highest value was found for the left lateral flexors force measurements in the second session (ICC = 0.923). Excellent reliability was found for left trunk rotators force (ICC = 0.966) and good reliability for all other muscle groups (ICC = 0.817 – 0.891). A statistically significant, moderately negative correlation was found between body height and maximum isometric trunk rotators force, body weight and trunk rotators force, body mass index and right trunk rotators force in the second session, and body mass index and left trunk rotators force. Discussion and conclusion: The hand-held dynamometry is a repeatable and reliable method for assessing maximal isometric force of the trunk muscles. In the future, measurements should be performed in both women and men, and the results of the measurements should be compared between different examiners.
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