Test-retest reliability of various measures for limits of stability using the balance master 6.1

Paper presented to the 6th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex, Wichita State University, April 23, 2010.Research completed at Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health ProfessionsObjective— Determine test-retest reliability of dynamic measures of balance using Balance Master 6.1 (BM6.1) with adults.Setting— University Campus.Participants— 15 adults, ages 18-30 years without balance deficits. Intervention— Participants completed pre-test and post-test limits of stability (LOS) testing. LOS testing was completed under four conditions: eyes open on platform, eyes closed on platform, eyes open on foam, and eyes closed on foam. Post-testing was completed within two weeks from initial testing. Main Outcome Measures— Movement Velocity (MVL), Endpoint Excursion (EPE), Maximum Excursion (MXE), Directional Control (DCL). An intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) determined reliability. Results— Eyes closed platform condition exhibited the highest ICC with the exception of backward movement. Conclusions— BM6.1 cannot solely measure LOS changes for this age group