Correlations between force plate measures for assessment of balance.
OBJECTIVE
To compare different force plate measures for assessment of postural stability during normal standing. Five types of measures were analysed: (1) The standard deviation of the horizontal ground reaction force, (2) the standard deviation of the centre of pressure, (3) the mean velocity of the centre of pressure, (4) movement strategy measures, and (5) the standard deviation of the vertical ground reaction force.


BACKGROUND
Force plate measures such as types 1-3 are frequently used, but they seem to have limited usefulness for assessment of balance on an individual level. Hence, there is a need to investigate alternative force plate measures (such as types 4 and 5).


METHODS
Force plate measures for 20 stroke patients were (a) compared to each other, and (b) compared to a clinical balance test, called Berg's balance test.


RESULTS
There was generally a significant correlation (P<0.01) between measures of types 1-3. The movement strategy measures were not significantly correlated to any of the other measures. The vertical force measure was only significantly correlated to the antero-posterior mean velocity of the centre of pressure. There was a significant correlation between (a) Berg's balance test and the vertical force measure (r(s)=-0.76), and (b) the static part of Berg's balance test and the antero-posterior mean velocity of the centre of pressure (r(s)=-0.6).


CONCLUSIONS
Measures of type 1, 2, 4 and 5 seem to quantify different aspects of human standing. The results also indicate that Berg's balance test and the vertical force measure quantify a similar aspect of the postural stability.


CONCLUSIONS
The results from this study may facilitate the understanding and interpretation of force plate measures.
Karlsson
A
A
Department of Systems and Control, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 27, 751 03, Uppsala, Sweden. ack@SysCon.uu.se
Frykberg
G
G
D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014160:Transducers, Pressure; D016474:Weight-Bearing