Abstract
[Purpose] We investigated the influence on intra-rater reliability of tibia fixation methods, which becomes the main axis when measuring range of motion (ROM) of dorsiflexion. [Subjects] The subjects were 10 female Wistar rats. [Methods] We measured dorsiflexion ROM, with the principal axis fixed either by hand, or by an implement. The measurements were performed by one examiner, and we determined the intra-rater reliability. [Results] The intra-rater reliability of rat hindlimb dorsiflexion ROM was 0.76 when fixation was performed by hand, and 0.84 when fixation was done with an implement. [Conclusion] In order to obtain ROM measurement results of high reliability, using an implement for fixation of the principal axis is useful.
