• Vanessa Pereira Lima, Marcelo Velloso, Fabiana Damasceno Almeida, Bianca Carmona, Giane Amorim Ribeiro-Samora, and Tania Janaudis-Ferreira.
• a Department of Physical Therapy , Universidade Federal Dos Vales do Jequitinhonha E Mucuri-Ufvjm , Minas Gerais , Brazil.
• Physiother Theory Pract. 2018 Oct 1; 34 (10): 806-812.

BackgroundThe unsupported upper-limb exercise (UULEX) and 6-min peg board ring tests (6PBRTs) have been developed to measure peak unsupported arm exercise capacity and arm endurance, respectively, in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These tests are valid and reproducible in this population; however, the reproducibility of healthy adults is currently unknown.ObjectiveTo determine the within-day test-retest reliability of the UULEX and 6PBRT in healthy adults.MethodThe study included 41 healthy adults, aged 38.3 ± 17.9 years old, who performed both tests, twice each on the same day, with a 30-min rest in between. Before and immediately after the tests, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), perception of exertion, and arm fatigue were measured. Time to perform the test and number of rings moved were recorded for the UULEX and 6PBRT, respectively.ResultsThe UULEX was reproducible on Bland-Altman analysis with lower and upper limits of agreement: 2.40 and -2.49 min, respectively (bias = -0.05; p = 0.817) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.85 (p < 0.0001) for time in minutes for the first and second tests. The 6PBRT was not reproducible on Bland-Altman analysis with lower and upper limits of agreement of 31.64 and -114.54 (bias = -41.45; p < 0.0001) and ICC = 0.91 (p < 0.0001) for the number of rings moved.ConclusionUULEX is a reliable test in healthy adults. Only one test is adequate when measuring peak unsupported arm exercise capacity using the UULEX in healthy adults, while more than two tests may be needed to measure arm endurance using the 6PBRT.

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