What Is the Diagnostic Accuracy of the Duck Walk Test in Detecting Meniscal Tears?

CONCLUSIONS: Because of the issue of verification bias, the actual sensitivity of this test in practice is likely much lower than the calculated sensitivity we observed. In addition, the test did not seem to perform better in patients with trauma or ACL insufficiency, nor was it more effective in detecting medial than lateral tears, although the numbers on some of those comparisons were rather small. Based on these results, we conclude that used alone, the duck walk test likely has little value in practice as a screening test. However, it is conceivable that it could be used in combination with other provocative tests for screening purposes. Future studies might consider using it as a means to best identify which patients should undergo MRI for the possibility of a meniscal tear.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, diagnostic study.
PMID: 28808951 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research - August 14, 2017 Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Van der Post A, Noorduyn JCA, Scholtes VAB, Mutsaerts ELAR Tags: Clin Orthop Relat Res Source Type: research