Thirty healthy adolescents (15 girls and 15 boys) with the age range of 15-18 years were selected through a sample of convenience method. Abdominal muscles thickness (including transverse abdominis, internal oblique and external oblique) was measured at both right and left sides using US. Two sets of images were taken on the same day to assess within-day reliability and the third measurement was taken one week later to evaluate between-day reliability.
Results
Data analysis demonstrated high within and between-day reliability with high Intra-class Correlation Coefficient values (ICC) 0.86 to 0.96 for within-day measurements and 0.80 to 0.95 for between-day measurements and high level of agreement between measurements. Moderate between–day reliability was found for right side of transverses abdominis in boys (ICC=0.72) and left side of transverses abdominis in girls (ICC=0.70).
Conclusions
The results revealed that US can be considered as a highly reliable tool to assess abdominal muscles thickness when measurements are taken in healthy adolescents by the same investigator.
Published Date: 2021-10-23; Received Date: 2021-06-29