Olsen, SharonTaylor, DeniseNiazi, Imran KhanMawston, GrantRashid, UsmanAlder, GemmaStavric, VernaNedergaard, Rasmus BachSignal, Nada2024-07-112024-07-112023-04-20F1000Research, ISSN: 2046-1402 (Print); 2046-1402 (Online), F1000 Research Ltd, 12, 423-423. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.132415.22046-14022046-1402http://hdl.handle.net/10292/17778Background Measures of hemiparetic ankle dorsiflexor muscle strength and rate of force development (RFD) are often used to determine the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions after stroke. However, evidence supporting the reliability of these measures is limited. This brief report provides a secondary analysis investigating the between-session reliability of isometric ankle dorsiflexor muscle strength, rate of force development (RFD), and tibialis anterior electromyography (TA EMG), in people with chronic stroke. Method Participants (n=15) completed three maximal isometric contractions of the ankle dorsiflexor muscles as fast as possible using a rigid dynamometer. Tests were repeated seven days later. Outcomes included ankle dorsiflexor isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), RFD in the first 200ms (RFD200ms), time to reach 90% MVC, and peak TA EMG. Data were analysed for 13 participants using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) and standard error of the measure percentage (SEM%). Results Reliability was higher when analysing the mean of three trials rather than the best of three trials. There was excellent reliability for isometric dorsiflexor MVC (ICC 0.97 [95% CI 0.92, 0.99], SEM% 7%). However, for other outcomes, while the ICC indicated good reliability, the lower bound of the 95% confidence interval of the ICC fell in the moderate range for TA EMG (ICC 0.86 [95% CI 0.60, 0.96], SEM% 25%) and time to reach 90% MVC (ICC 0.8 [95% CI 0.53, 0.93], SEM% 23%) and in the poor range for dorsiflexor RFD200ms (ICC 0.79 [95% CI 0.48, 0.92], SEM% 24%). Conclusion The findings raise concerns about the reliability of measures of rapid force production in the dorsiflexor muscles after stroke. Given the functional significance of the ankle dorsiflexors, larger studies should be conducted to further investigate these concerns and explore reliable methods for measuring rapid force production in the hemiparetic dorsiflexor muscles.© 2024 Olsen S et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences4201 Allied Health and Rehabilitation Science42 Health Sciences3202 Clinical Sciences4207 Sports Science and ExerciseNeurosciencesClinical ResearchRehabilitationMusculoskeletalStroke0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology1103 Clinical Sciences1112 Oncology and CarcinogenesisJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.12688/f1000research.132415.2