Assessment of inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Luna EMG robot as a tool for assessing upper limb proprioception in patients with stroke—a prospective observational study

Abstract

Background The aim of the study was to assess the inter-rater and intra-rater agreement of measurements performed with the Luna EMG (electromyography) multifunctional robot, a tool for evaluation of upper limb proprioception in individuals with stroke. Methods The study was conducted in a group of patients with chronic stroke. A total of 126 patients participated in the study, including 78 women and 48 men, on average aged nearly 60 years (mean = 59.9). Proprioception measurements were performed using the Luna EMG diagnostic and rehabilitation robot to assess the left and right upper limbs. The examinations were conducted by two raters, twice, two weeks apart. The results were compared between the raters and the examinations. Results High consistency of the measurements performed for the right and the left hand was reflected by the interclass correlation coefficients (0.996–0.998 and 0.994–0.999, respectively) and by Pearson’s linear correlation which was very high (r = 1.00) in all the cases for the right and the left hand in both the inter-rater and intra-rater agreement analyses. Conclusions Measurements performed by the Luna EMG diagnostic and rehabilitation robot demonstrate high inter-rater and intra-rater agreement in the assessment of upper limb proprioception in patients with chronic stroke. The findings show that Luna EMG is a reliable tool enabling effective evaluation of upper limb proprioception post-stroke.