BACKGROUND: Postural assessment and joint range-of-motion measurements are fundamental in diagnosing, planning and following up the evolution and results from physical therapy treatment. These can be done with the aid of goniometry the most common method in physical therapy practice - and also, through technological advances, by means of photogrammetry. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the parallel reliability of computerized photogrammetry, using two software tools (Corel Draw and SAPo), in relation to goniometry, in four angles of the lower limbs. METHOD: Twenty-six asymptomatic volunteers of both sexes, aged between 18 and 45 years, were studied. None of them had leg length discrepancy greater than 1 cm. The tibiotarsal angle (TT), knee flexion/extension angle (F/E), quadriceps angle (Q) and subtalar angle (S) were measured. The measurement was done first with a manual goniometer and then with digital photogrammetry by means of the Corel Draw v. 12 and SAPo v.0.63 software. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences between the three evaluation methods for the TT (p= 0.9991), S (p= 0.2159) and F/E (p= 0.4027) angles. However, for the Q angle there was a significant difference between goniometry and the software used in photogrammetry (p= 0.0067), although there was no significant difference between two software tools (p= 0.9920). This showed that the photogrammetry results were not influenced by the software used. CONCLUSION: In these healthy young subjects, computerized photogrammetry showed good parallel reliability in comparison with goniometry, for all the angles evaluated except for the Q angle. Therefore, in physical therapy practice, caution is needed in using Q angle measurements coming from different postural assessment methods.
goniometry; photogrammetry; posture
