Kis Mihaly
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Toronto; Toronto, ON M5T 1P5, Canada.
J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2020 Feb 14;5(1):13. doi: 10.3390/jfmk5010013.
Providing quantitative measures of balance and posture is a valuable aid in clinical assessment and in recent years several devices have been introduced that have demonstrated the accurate measure of balance via deviation of center of mass utilizing software algorithms and mobile devices. The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of EQ Balance against the Sway Balance System (Sway), another balance device that is currently established as an accurate measure of balance, and to evaluate the test-retest reliability of EQ Balance. Seventy individuals presenting to a sports medicine and concussion clinic volunteered to participate in the assessment of balance utilizing Sway and EQ Balance simultaneously. The group included 25 males and 45 females (mean age: 37.8 ± 14.8, range: 13-65) with and without concussion or other neurological conditions (39 concussed vs. 31 non-neurologically injured, or healthy). Twenty-six of the concussed participants were balance-impaired. Participants performed five postures while holding the mobile device against their chest. Participants held a device holder that secured two devices: one iPhone 6 with EQ Balance and a second iPhone 6 with Sway Balance. The average balance score on all five stances was recorded as the "average balance score". Average balance scores were in statistical agreement between the two methods across the entire group, and for sub-groups according to the Deming regression ( < 0.01). The intra-class correlation (ICC) for the cohort was 0.87 ( < 0.001). Across the cohort, EQ Balance measured significantly worse balance scores in the balance-impaired group, comprised of participants with brain injury who failed a clinical balance screening test, compared to the group without clinically-determined balance impairment (this group includes healthy and some concussed patients). EQ Balance demonstrated safety, as it was considered safe to perform independently (i.e., without an observer) in those with impaired balance, and high test- retest reliability in the healthy and concussed patient population. Statistical agreement was established between the two measures of EQ Balance and Sway Balance for the average balance score across all five stances. The ICC analysis demonstrates strong consistency of the task output between test sessions. Given these results, EQ Balance demonstrates strength as a new balance assessment tool to accurately measure balance performance as part of a unique and novel gamified application in healthy and neurologically injured populations.
提供平衡和姿势的定量测量对于临床评估很有帮助，近年来已引入了几种设备，这些设备通过利用软件算法和移动设备测量质心偏差来准确测量平衡。本研究的目的是评估EQ平衡仪相对于摇摆平衡系统（Sway）的准确性，Sway是另一种目前已被确立为准确平衡测量工具的平衡设备，并评估EQ平衡仪的重测信度。70名到运动医学和脑震荡诊所就诊的个体自愿同时使用Sway和EQ平衡仪参与平衡评估。该组包括25名男性和45名女性（平均年龄：37.8±14.8，范围：13 - 65岁），有或没有脑震荡或其他神经系统疾病（39名脑震荡患者与31名非神经损伤或健康患者）。26名脑震荡参与者存在平衡障碍。参与者将移动设备贴在胸前进行五种姿势的测试。参与者手持一个固定两个设备的装置：一个装有EQ平衡仪的iPhone 6和另一个装有摇摆平衡系统的iPhone 6。记录所有五种姿势的平均平衡分数作为“平均平衡分数”。在整个组以及根据德明回归划分的亚组中，两种方法的平均平衡分数在统计学上具有一致性（<0.01）。该队列的组内相关系数（ICC）为0.87（<0.001）。在整个队列中，与没有临床确定的平衡障碍的组（该组包括健康和一些脑震荡患者）相比，在由未能通过临床平衡筛查测试的脑损伤参与者组成的平衡障碍组中，EQ平衡仪测量的平衡分数明显更差。EQ平衡仪显示出安全性，因为它被认为对于平衡受损者可以独立（即无需观察者）安全地进行测试，并在健康和脑震荡患者群体中具有较高的重测信度。在所有五种姿势的平均平衡分数方面，EQ平衡仪和摇摆平衡系统的两种测量方法之间建立了统计学一致性。ICC分析表明测试 sessions之间任务输出具有很强的一致性。鉴于这些结果，EQ平衡仪作为一种新的平衡评估工具，在健康和神经损伤人群中作为独特新颖的游戏化应用的一部分，能够准确测量平衡性能，显示出其优势。
