The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of assessing ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (ADFROM) in the standing position in patients with symptomatic non-insertional Achilles tendinopathy (AT) and plantar fasciopathy (PF), compared to a control group of healthy participants, to examine the association between medial arch support and ADFROM assessment, and to
investigate whether age should be considered when establishing physiological normative values. Measurements were performed according to the protocol of Baumach et al. (2016) using a universal goniometer, with the knee flexed and extended, with and without arch support, in 31 patients with AT, 30 with PF, and 36 healthy participants. Intra-rater reliability was mostly acceptable to excellent, except for the extended knee of the affected foot in the PF group, where reliability
was poor (ICC 0.45, lower CI bound 0.11). Arch support in the healthy group was statistically significantly associated with measured ADFROM at the flexed knee, where measurements were on average nearly 2° lower, although the clinical significance of this difference is negligible. A marginally significant negative association between age and ADFROM was observed at the flexed knee
(regression coefficient – 0.1), indicating a trend of decreasing range with aging. A similar but less pronounced trend was observed at the extended knee. This should be considered when establishing normative values in protocols defining ADFROM limits, although further research on a larger sample is needed to clarify the relationship between age and ADFROM. The 95% minimal detectable change
(MDC) values for all measurements without arch support in the patient groups were relatively high. We do not recommend these measurements for clinical use but suggest further evaluation of the psychometric properties of digital goniometers.
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