Muscle strength and force production are important measures of patient progress during physical rehabilitation. Reliable and objective measurements are important to ascertain throughout rehabilitation. Current methods—manual muscle testing, electromechanical dynamometer, and hand-held dynamometer—are accurate and reliable, but have limitations that prevent wide implementation. As healthcare systems adapt to more patient-centered outcome models, changes to the delivery of rehabilitation, whether at-home or in the clinic, must also change to become more cost effective and accessible and provide quantifiable information regarding patient progress.

We developed a novel Force Sensing (FoSe) device to quantify either tensile or compressive isometric muscle strength. The device was tested in a laboratory setting with healthy participants (n = 32) and compared to the commonly used hand-held dynamometer (HHD). Participants used both devices to perform several common isometric muscle tests including: hip abduction, knee extension, knee flexion, shoulder external rotation, and shoulder internal rotation.

Compared to the HHD, FoSe was found to be an accurate and reliable measurement of force production. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients ranged from 0.58 to 0.89 without a magnitude dependent variation in force measurement. A second round of clinical testing with a patient population is warranted to determine FoSe’s ability to measure clinically relevant asymmetry and progress over time. Further usability testing also needs to be conducted to determine the adequacy of FoSe for at-home use by both patients and clinicians.

肌肉力量和力量产生是身体康复过程中患者进步的重要指标。可靠和客观的测量对于确定整个康复过程非常重要。当前的方法-手动肌肉测试，机电测功机和手持式测功机-准确可靠，但存在无法广泛实施的局限性。随着医疗保健系统适应更多以患者为中心的结果模型，无论是在家中还是在诊所中，康复服务的改变都必须改变，以变得更具成本效益和可及性，并提供有关患者进展的可量化信息。

我们开发了一种新颖的力感（FoSe）装置，以量化拉伸或压缩等距肌肉的力量。该设备在健康参与者（n = 32）的实验室环境中进行了测试，并与常用的手持测功机（HHD）进行了比较。参与者使用这两种设备执行了几种常见的等距肌肉测试，包括：髋关节外展，膝盖伸展，膝盖屈曲，肩外旋和肩内旋。

与HHD相比，FoSe被认为是精确而可靠的力产生测量。类内相关系数的范围从0.58到0.89，而力测量中没有幅度相关的变化。有必要对患者群进行第二轮临床测试，以确定FoSe测量与临床相关的不对称性和随时间变化的能力。还需要进行进一步的可用性测试，以确定患者和临床医生在家中使用FoSe的适当性。