Intra- and inter-session reliability of traditional and entropy-based variables describing stance on a wobble board

Abstract

A wobble board (WB) is a balance rehabilitation tool that is used in physiotherapy to improve strength and stability. The WB tested in this study includes a sensory module for measuring patients' tilt and rotation during stance. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a balance measurement using a WB. Thirty healthy young adults participated in this study. The participants stood on the WB to simultaneously record the tilt of the WB and the center of pressure data using a force plate. The data were recorded during five measurement sessions on various days, with four trials each. Sways, velocities and indexes of complexity (CI) were computed. For reliability assessment, we used intra-class correlation coefficients within and between sessions: for validity, we computed Spearman correlation coefficients. The velocities and CI showed good intra-session reliability, and the sways showed mostly poor intra-session reliability. The results of inter-session reliability showed good to excellent reliability for CI, poor reliability for sways and poor to good reliability for velocities. The Spearman correlation coefficient showed excellent agreement between the mean velocities computed from the force plate and the WB. Our results confirm that the WB tested is suitable for stability assessment in young adults.