Save Time During Paedicatric assessment with the new Toes2Hip app

The use of the apps within health care is now commonplace with clinicians using apps to enhance clinical service. The majority of clinicians own a smart phone, and over half use it in clinical practice. Smart phones and tablets are increasingly replacing desktop computers as a preferred device for fast access to information.

Easy access to paediatric normative reference values for the foot and leg is essential when assessing and managing the lower limb and when there are established reference values for typically developing children[1-3] Children’s joint range of motion or rotational profile changes with age and many clinicians use paper charts to map this progress and record measures. We do this to identify those measures outside of these normal values. Measures are also used as indicator to modify treatment or gauge success.

With more apps being used, researchers have been embracing this technology and reporting good reliability with their use as measurement tools[4, 5]. With this in mind, the development team vision was to create an app that would incorporate app technology with paediatric norms and standardised assessment techniques that are known to be reliable with both novice and experienced clinicians.

Toes2Hip allows either a manual entry of measures or incorporates the technology to determine each measure. It provides images and instructions to show the techniques and use of each feature. Toes2Hip measures include hip rotation, torsional profile assessments, hamstring range, weight bearing and non-weight bearing ankle range, metatarsus adductus assessment and the FPI-6. There are additional videos on the Toes2Hip YouTube channel to assist with understanding app functions:

As clinicians get busier, Toe2Hip also is a valuable timesaver during report writing. It has the ability to email graphs of normative values with your plotted measures or to generate a simple summary report.

If you are seeing the occasional child or teenager, or you are a paediatric specialist clinician then Toes2Hip is a great assessment companion.

Toes2Hip can now be purchased on iTunes.

References:
[1.] Staheli LT, Corbett M, et al. Lower-extremity rotational problems in children. Normal values to guide management. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1985;67(1):39-47.
[2.] Mudge AJ, Bau KV, et al. Normative reference values for lower limb joint range, bone torsion, and alignment in children aged 4-16 years. J Pediatr Orthop B. 2014;23(1):15-25.
[3.] Evans AM, Rome K, et al. The foot posture index, ankle lunge test, Beighton scale and the lower limb assessment score in healthy children: a reliability study. J Foot Ankle Res. 2012;5(1):1.
[4.] Williams CM, Caserta AJ, et al. The TiltMeter app is a novel and accurate measurement tool for the weight bearing lunge test. J Sci Med Sport. 2013;16(5):392-5.
[5.] Vohralik SL, Bowen AR, et al. Reliability and Validity of a Smartphone App to Measure Joint Range. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation / Association of Academic Physiatrists. 2014.