Abstracts Category : Other

The intra-and inter-rater reliability of manual muscle testing in the newhand classification of wheelchair rugby

by Niekerk Yvette van

Introduction: Before 2015 the hand classification inwheelchair rugby consisted of non-sport specific tests. The handclassification was not in accordance with the classification codeintroduced by the International Paralympic Committee in 2003. In2015, the newly revised wheelchair rugby classification manual wasreleased, containing the revised wheelchair rugby handclassification. Hand tests that were not functional sport-specifictests were removed from the bench test in wheelchair rugbyclassification. Lumbrical, interossei and thumb opposition manualmuscle testing were added to the bench test in wheelchair rugbyclassification. On both national and international levels ofclassification, classifiers verbalised their uncertainty to theirfellow panel members regarding their hand placement on theathletes hand and interpretation of the manual muscle testing ofthe hand that was observed and tested. This justified reliabilitytesting of the new hand classification. Aim: The aim of thisstudy was to determine the intra and inter-rater reliability of themanual muscle testing in the new hand classification of wheelchairrugby. Study design: This study followed a quantitativenon-experimental, cross-sectional design. Method: The raters whotook part in the study were active international wheelchair rugbyclassifiers from all over the world. The raters received anelectronic questionnaire consisting of biographic information andthree videos repeated two times. Each video showed an athleteshand being classified by a classifier. The raters had to give amanual muscle test grade for each subject (muscle) tested in eachvideo by using tick boxes. The manual muscle test grades thatcould be given were: 0-1, 2, 3 and 4-5. The first three raters ineach international wheelchair rugby classification level whocompleted the questionnaire were used for the data analysis. DataAnalysis: The statistician used the two way model for the ICC inwhich each subject was rated by the same raters to determine theabsolute agreement for each objective. The Medcalc program wasused. To indicate the strength of agreement the ranges provided byLandis and Koch (1977) were used: 0.0 0.2 slight, 0.21 0.4fair, 0.41 0.6 moderate, 0.61 0.8 substantial and 0.81 1.00almost perfect. Conclusion: Raters one, two, five, seven, eightand nines intraclass correlation coefficient values fell between0.81-1.00 which is descriptive of almost perfect levels ofintra-rater reliability. Raters three, four and sixs intraclasscorrelation coefficient values fell between 0.61-0.80 which isdescriptive of substantial levels of intra-rater reliability.However, none of the raters scored 100% when accuracy wasdetermined. All three levels had intraclass correlationcoefficient values which is descriptive of almost perfect levelsof intra-rater reliability within each level. Level 2, 3 and 4classifiers had intraclass correlation coefficient values between0.81- 1.00 which is descriptive of almost perfect levelsAdvisors/Committee Members: De Bruyn, J.T. (advisor), Dawood, Muhammed (coadvisor).