Reproducibility of balance measures using motion sensors in smartphone technology to measure balance: preliminary result

Paper presented to the 8th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Marcus Welcome Center, Wichita State University, April 18, 2012.Research completed at the Department of Human Performance Studies, College of EducationPURPOSE: This pilot study was to determine the reproducibility of the output generated by Smartphone accelerometers when used for balance assessment. METHODS: 61 healthy individuals (28 male, 33 female; mean age = 23.8+6.2yr) performed a static Single Leg Athlete's Test (SLS) and a Tandem Stand with eyes closed (TSEC) for 10 seconds each. A commercially available Smartphone was used to determine Anterior/Posterior stability. 4 trials were completed for each test with 1 minute rest between trials. RESULTS: For each balance assessment, one-way ANOVA was performed and pairwise comparisons determined. For SLS, no significant differences were noted between trials (p = 0.05). For TSEC, trial 1 was significantly different from trials 2, 3, and 4 (p < 0.05). Additionally, for TSEC, a significant difference was observed between trials 2 and 4 (p < 0.05), however neither trial 2 nor 4 was significantly different than trial 3. For SLS, no significant differences were observed between trials 2, 3, or 4. CONCLUSION: No significant differences were found between trials for SLS, the first trial of TSEC was found to be significantly different than subsequent trials. This may indicate a familiarization trial is necessary if Smartphone technology is to be used for conducting balance assessmentsGraduate School, Office of Research Administration, University Librarie