A novel tool for the assessment of dynamic balance in healthy individuals

Abstract 

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intra- and inter-session reliability of a newly developed portable electronic balance measurement system (Clever Balance Board; CBB). In the first experiment, 36 male athletes performed three trials of the Sharpened-Romberg test, single limb stance test, and the CBB test in a randomized order. In the second experiment, eight physically active men and 12 women performed the CBB test in two sessions separated by 48h. The first experiment revealed a large trial-to-trial improvement for the Sharpened-Romberg test (46%) and single limb stance test (21%), while the same effect was relatively small for the three CBB scores (5–7%). The second experiment revealed a minimal improvement in the CBB scores between two sessions (0.6–2.3%). The observed intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and coefficients of variation (CV) suggested an acceptable retest correlation (ICC=0.85 and 0.76), but very large within-individual variation (CV=42.1% and 45.7%) of the Sharpened-Romberg test and the single limb stance test. Regarding the CBB scores, the corresponding retest correlation coefficients and within-individual variations were ICC=0.90–0.96 and CV=6.9–16.2%, respectively. Finally, inter-session reliability coefficients proved that the CBB scores had high retest correlation and an acceptable within-individual variation (ICC=0.77–0.90 and CV=8.4–13.9%). These results generally suggest that the CBB could be a reliable tool for dynamic balance assessment in healthy and physically active individuals.

Keywords: Postural control, Balance testing, Reproducibility