title: Validity of the Nintendo Wii® balance board for the assessment of standing balance in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Impaired postural stability places individuals with Parkinson's at an increased risk for falls. Given the high incidence of fall-related injuries within this population, ongoing assessment of postural stability is important.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the validity of the Nintendo Wii(®) balance board as a measurement tool for the assessment of postural stability in individuals with Parkinson's.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty individuals with Parkinson's participated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects completed testing on two balance tasks with eyes open and closed on a Wii(®) balance board and biomechanical force platform.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bland-Altman plots and a two-way, random-effects, single measure intraclass correlation coefficient model were used to assess concurrent validity of centre-of-pressure data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Concurrent validity was demonstrated to be excellent across balance tasks (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.96, 0.98, 0.92, 0.94).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that the Wii(®) balance board is a valid tool for the quantification of postural stability among individuals with Parkinson's.
authors.affiliation: School of Occupational Therapy, The University of Western Ontario, Canada. jeff.holmes@uwo.ca
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Ross A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D004856:Postural Balance; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018910:Video Games