The Movement Sciences Laboratory at Carroll recently published a paper titled “Peak hip muscle torque measurements are influenced by sagittal plane hip position” in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy.
The subject of the paper was based off of a study performed primarily by physical therapy students from the undergraduate class of 2013 and DPT class of 2015.
David Bazett-Jones, assistant professor, physical therapy worked with the group to author the piece and shared his thoughts on the findings, sharing, “In physical therapy, athletic training and other health care professions, testing someone’s muscle strength is extremely important. It tells us about their level of muscle function and can give us insight into why they were injured or how they are improving during the rehabilitation process. However, if we are not confident in the methods that we use to measure muscle strength, then we cannot be confident about their improvements or injury risk. This study helped us to better understand how the methods that we use to measures muscle strength influence our results. Specifically, we now know that, when testing hip strength, we need to be careful to use the same positions each time we test patients or clients. If we don’t do this, we may think that someone is stronger or weaker than they really are.”
Research is an integral part of many programs at Carroll allowing students to think critically and problem solve with real-life scenarios. These life-long skills are just a few of many that they’ll utilize throughout their professional careers.