Assessment of Static Balance Metrics in Community-Dwelling Older Adults Categorized Using the Fall Risk Appraisal...

The Fall Risk Appraisal Matrix (FRAM) is a simple fall risk assessment tool that categorizes older adults into four separate groups based on their fear of falling (FOF) and static balance performance. Static balance for the FRAM is evaluated solely by postural sway distance, which does not account for other static balance parameters, such as sway area, anterior-posterior (AP) sway range, medial-lateral (ML) sway range, and sway velocity. The objective of this study was to compare these additional metrics across the FRAM groups to assess their relevance and validity for inclusion in static balance performance assessment. Hence, these measures were compared among the four different fall risk groups within the FRAM (203 participants; mean age = 75.0 ± 7.2 years) using Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by Dunn's post hoc tests with Bonferroni correction. All balance metrics were significantly greater in the Incongruent (poor balance/low FOF) and Congruent (poor balance/high FOF) groups than the Rational (good balance/low FOF) group, as well as in the Congruent group than the Irrational (good balance/high FOF) group (p < 0.001). Additionally, AP sway range and sway velocity significantly differed between the Irrational and Incongruent groups (p < 0.001). The results suggest that the inclusion of these additional static balance measures, in addition to sway distance, reveals specific tendencies in static balance among different fall risk groups, which can serve as a reference for other researchers and future studies to develop more individually tailored intervention programs based on their static balance specificities.