The Effect of Clinical Knee Measurement in Children with Genu Varus
Introduction Children with genu varus needs frequent assessment and follow up that may need several radiographies. This study investigates the effectiveness of the clinical assessment of genu varus in comparison to the radiological assessment. Methods In this study, relationship between clinical and radiographic…
2025 4,082 reads 0 citations
Original Articles
The Effect of Clinical Knee Measurement in Children with Genu Varus
IntroductionChildren with genu varus needs frequent assessment and follow up that may need several radiographies. This study investigates the effectiveness of the clinical assessment of genu varus in comparison to the radiological assessment.
MethodsIn this study, relationship between clinical and radiographic assessments of genu varus (bow leg) in children, focusing on the use of intercondylar distance (ICD) and clinical tibiofemoral angle (cTFA) as clinical measures, compared to the mechanical tibiofemoral angle (mTFA) obtained via scanogram, the radiographic gold standard for assessing lower limb deformity. Clinical measurements (ICD and cTFA) were gathered along with the mTFA from scanogram radiographs. Reliability was tested between two observers, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationships between the clinical and radiographic measurements.
ResultsThe study involved 36 children with an average age of 6.3 years. There were strong intra-rater reliability for both observers (ICC 0.87 for observer 1, ICC 0.97 for observer 2) and excellent inter-observer agreement (ICC 0.97). Positive correlations were found between cTFA and mTFA (r² = 0.67, p < 0.001), between ICD and cTFA (r² = 0.53, p < 0.001), and between ICD and mTFA (r² = 0.62, p < 0.001).
ConclusionThis study suupports the idea that clinical methods may be sufficient for evaluation, minimizing the need for radiation exposure and offering a reliable alternative to radiography.
Keywords Children Legs Clinical assessment Radiological assessment Scanogram All subjects
Barw Medical Journal. 2025;3(3):2–5