INTERRATER AND INTRARATER RELIABILITY OF PRESSURE BIOFEEDBACK UNIT IN MEASUREMENT OF TRANSVERSES ABDOMINIS MUSCLE ACTIVATION IN ASYMPTOMATIC ADULTS

Background –The Transverse abdominis with its direct attachments to lumber vertebrae through thoracolumber fascia contributes as a local stabilizer of spine which have meaningful role for spinal stability. Transverse abdominis(TrA) activation is vital component in rehabilition of patients with Low back pain. The Pressure Biofeedback Unit (PBU) is a device designed to teach and measure Transverses abdominis activation by Abdominal draw-in maneuver which is often used by clinicians.

Methods – 60 healthy male and female subjects were selected for study. The abdominal draw-in test was performed with the subject in a prone lying position, and the Pressure Biofeedback Unit (Chattanooga Stabilizer ) was utilized to evaluate the ability of the subject to perform this abdominal isolation test. For intrarater reliability, the examiner carried out the test twice at the interval of 2 days. For interrater reliability, 2 examiners did the test one after the other on the same day.

Results – Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were calculated to determine interrater and intrarater reliability.ICC value for inter-rater reliability is 0.87 with 95% confidence interval (0.78-0.92). ICC value for intra-rater reliability is 0.86 with 95% confidence interval (0.79 – 0.93).

Conclusion - Pressure Biofeedback Unit shows good to excellent inter-rater and intra-rater reliability.