2020 Volume 35 Issue 3 Pages 403-407
[Purpose] To verify the reliability of a precordial flexibility test for simple and convenient thoracic mobility assessment. [Participants and Methods] The participants were 15 healthy adults, and the raters were 3 persons with different lengths of experience. The participants adopted a lateral recumbent position on a bed, with both hips and knees flexed at an angle of 90°. The raters fixed their pelvis, twisted their shoulder girdle backwards, and measured the distance between their posterior acromion and the bed. The reliability of the precordial flexibility test was analyzed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plot. [Results] The intra- and inter-rater reliability was confirmed by ICC (1,1)=0.80–0.92 and ICC (2,1)=0.71–0.90, respectively. Additionally, proportional biases for the intra- and inter-rater reliability based on the Bland-Altman plot were –0.25 to 0.16. [Conclusion] The intra- and inter-rater reliability of the precordial flexibility test was sufficiently high, supporting its clinical applicability.
