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Comparing sensory organization test measures of the Bertec® Balance Advantage® CDP/IVRTM and NeuroCom® Smart
Karson Curran1, Galen Holland2, Mark S Redfern3
1Human Movement and Balance Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Schenley Place 4420 Bayard St, Rm 301, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States; Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, United States.
Background:
The Sensory Organization Test (SOT) on computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) platforms is a tool used to assess standing balance. The Neurocom Smart Equitest (Natus Balance & Mobility, Inc.) is an established CDP device and has been used in clinics and research since the 1980s. However, it is no longer produced nor maintained. Recently a new platform, the Bertec® Balance Advantage® CDP/IVRTM (Bertec Corporation, Columbus, OH), has come onto the market as a potential replacement for the NeuroCom. The two systems use different techniques for manipulating visual inputs, and thus it is unclear if performance measures from the two systems are comparable.
Research Question:
The primary aim was to compare intrasubject SOT performance on Bertec CDP/IVR and NeuroCom EquiTest platforms. The second aim was to compare SOT performance for young and older healthy adults on the two platforms.
Methods:
Thirty-one (N = 31) participants were recruited and divided in two age groups (Older, Young). All participants attended two sessions of testing approximately one week apart. At each session, the standard clinical SOT (six conditions, three 20 s trials each) was conducted on one of the balance platforms. SOT performance was assessed via sway measures: the root-mean-square (RMS) and mean velocity of the center of pressure, as well as the standard Equilibrium (EQ) Score.
Results And Significance:
There were significant differences in the measures of sway between the Bertec and Equitest platforms, particularly conditions 4-6. As expected, there were significant differences in sway metrics between the young and older participants. However, both age groups were consistent within each of the two platforms. These results indicate that new normative databases may need to be established specific to the Bertec system, and that results of the two systems should be compared with caution. Further research with a larger sample and diverse populations is needed.
