The mobilising effects of repeated measurement on hip flexion.

A test of flexibility, so widely used that it deserves to be called the classical measure, is hip flexion. It has featured in a variety of guises as the toe-touch test (Weber and Kraus, 1949; Buxton, 1957; Larson, 1974) the sit and reach test (Wells and Dillon, 1952), the femoral trunk angle (Troup, Hood and Chapman, 1968) and supine leg lift (Tanigawa, 1972). Harris (1969) reports on its high reliability, Broer and Galles (1958) on its independence of length differences between the upper and lower body segments, and Wells and Dillon (1952) and Matthews, Shaw and Bohnen (1957) on the high correlation between its different forms. The relative role of hamstring extensibility and spinal mobility have been evaluated by Troup, Hood and Chapman (1968) and by Fieldman (1968) and both agree that spinal mobility is secondary to hamstring extensibility in determining the range of movement measured.