CONCURRENT VALIDITY OF CHEST WALL EXPANSION BETWEEN CLOTH TAPE MEASURE, ELECTROMAGNETIC AND LASER DISPLACEMENT SENSORS

Abstract

Chest wall expansion examination previously has been determined by cloth tape measure using circumference approach. There may be a potential to measure chest wall expansion using new technological devices such as electromagnetic and laser displacement sensors. However, research studies that compare these two measurement approaches are scarce. The objective of this study was to determine the concurrent validity of chest wall expansion using cloth tape measure, electromagnetic and laser displacement sensors. This cross-sectional study involved 62 males aged 18- 30 years. Upper and lower chest expansions were measured using cloth tape measure, electromagnetic and laser displacement sensors. Spearman’s rho analysis showed that there was a significant moderate positive correlation (p<0.01) between chest wall expansion measured using cloth tape measure, electromagnetic sensor (r=0.53-0.60) and laser displacement sensor (r=0.46-0.5). The study results suggest that there is concurrent validity (analysed using correlation test) between chest wall expansion using tape cloth measure, electromagnetic sensor and laser displacement sensor. However, further studies are required to compare chest wall expansion measurements to a gold standard measurement tool.