Intra- and interday reliability of spine rasterstereography

To determine intra- and interday reliability of spine rasterstereographic system Formetric 4D with and without reflective markers. Twenty-six healthy volunteers (M group) had two markers placed in correspondence of vertebra prominens and intergluteal cleft, and 24 volunteers (NM group) were assessed without markers. All participants were analyzed two times in the same day and one time on a separate day. Trunk length, kyphotic angle, lordotic angle, pelvic inclination, kyphotic and lordotic apex, right and left lateral deviation, flèche cervicale and lombaire, trunk imbalance, pelvic tilt, inflection point, rotation correction, right and left surface rotation, pelvic torsion, and trunk torsion were measured. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach Alpha (Cα) were calculated. In M group, for intra-, interday, and overall evaluations, the higher reliability coefficients were 0.971, 0.963, and 0.958 (ICC) and 0.987, 0.983, and 0.985 (Cα) for trunk length, kyphotic angle, and lordotic apex, respectively; while in NM group, they were 0.978, 0.982, and 0.972 and 0.989, 0.991, and 0.991 for trunk length. In M group, the lower values were 0.598, 0.515, and 0.534 (ICC) and 0.742, 0.682, and 0.784 (Cα) for trunk and pelvic torsion and in NM group 0.561, 0.537, and 0.461 and 0.731, 0.695, and 0.729 for left lateral deviation. The reliability of most parameters was excellent. © 2013 Laura Guidetti et al.