Reliability of center of pressure measures during dynamic balance performance

Few studies have assessed the reliability of postural balance measures during dynamic balance performance that introduce additional challenging to postural control system. In addition sometimes in the static conditions some deficiencies of the postural control system may not be revealed obviously therefore the aim of this study was to assess the reliability of postural control parameters during functional performance on force plate in healthy subjects.

Ten healthy male subjects (mean age: 25.4 years, weight: 68.2 kg height:176.9cm) participated in this study. None of the subjects were involved in sport activities. Every subject performed three 15seconds trials of eyes open single leg stance on a force plate during dynamic balance task. Participants grasped object with hand at their waist level and release it at above shoulder level. The reproducibility of the center of pressure (COP) deviations (average speed &length of path) was assessed. All participants were tested on 2 sessions with an inter-measurement interval of 7 days. COP data was collected for each trial. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used as parameter of intra-session and inter-session (Test-Retest) reliability.

The ICCs for intra-session reliability of average speed and length of COP path were 0.89 and 0.91 respectively. The ICCs for inter-session reliability were 0.95 and 0.96 respectively.

The study showed high and very high reliability for center of pressure measures during dynamic balance task. Therefore this dynamic performance can be used as a balance pattern in postural control assessment. These can be used as reliable parameters in dynamic postural control assessment due to high reliability of average speed and length of COP path.