Adequacyof Belt-Stabilized Testing of Knee Extension Strength

Tester strength can limit the forces that can be measured using a hand-held dynamometer (HHD). A solution is to use belt-stabilization in conjunction with a HHD. The purposes of this study were to determine if a portable belt-stabilized HHD (BSHHD) set-up was capable of measuring a broad range of isometric knee extension torques and whether isometric knee extension torques measured using a portable BSHHD system were comparable to those obtained using a Biodex isokinetic dynamometer. Participants in the study were 113women and 71 men (14–85 years of age)community-dwelling enrollees in the NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function. Knee extension torques measured using a BSHHD ranged from 35.0–416.0 Nm. Torques measured with the BSHHD were significantly lower (p.86, p