Responsiveness of a Balance Assessment Using a Mobile Application

Area of Science:

• Sports Medicine
• Neurology
• Biomechanical Engineering

Background:

• Balance assessment is crucial for athlete concussion screening.
• The King-Devick (K-D) Balance app offers an objective measure for balance.
• Investigating the responsiveness of this app is key for clinical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the responsiveness of the K-D Balance app for assessing changes in balance.
• To determine if the K-D Balance app can detect meaningful shifts in balance over time.

Main Methods:

• A repeated-measures study design was employed.
• Twenty-five participants (ages 20-25) underwent balance tests using the K-D Balance app on an iPhone, with sessions one week apart.
• Three stances (double leg, tandem right, tandem left) were assessed, with the app guiding positions and timing; analysis included intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and minimal detectable change (MDC).

Main Results:

• The median K-D test scores were 0.5 in session 1 and 0.4 in session 2.
• The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.42, indicating moderate reliability.
• The minimal detectable change (MDC) was calculated to be 1.58.

Conclusions:

• The MDC of 1.58 serves as the threshold for detecting meaningful changes in balance using the K-D Balance app.
• Clinicians can utilize these findings to objectively monitor balance fluctuations in athletes over time.
• The K-D Balance app demonstrates potential for reliable and responsive balance assessment in clinical settings.