Study of the reliability and validity of the water plethysmographer for use in measurement of the edema at the ankle/foot

Abstract

Reliable and valid instruments are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the rehabilitation techniques.The objective this study was to evaluate the reliability and the validity of the water plethysmography. Fourteen subjects between the ages of 18 and 59 years were selected to participate in the study. Ankles were assessed by two trained examiners with the water plethysmography. Three measures of each ankle were obtained by the two investigators to evaluate intra- and inter-raters reliability. Twenty-six measures were obtained with the water plethysmography and compared with measurements obtained by graduated cylinders from 10 to 1000 ml, water displacement device (gold standart). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) evaluated intra- and inter-raters reliability, whereas paired Student t-tests and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to establish validity of the water plethysmography.The results demonstrated excellent intra- and inter-rater reliability levels with levels with CCI3,1=0.99 and CCI3,2=0.99 respectively. No differences were found between the measures obtained with the water plethysmography compared to those of the water displacement device (p=0.40). Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a high magnitude and significance level between the measures (r=1,0; p<0.0001).The findings demonstrated that the water plethysmography is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring ankle/foot volume.