Development, intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of “BalanceGrid and WalkMeterâ€, clinically feasible tools to measure limits of balance stability and spatial-temporal gait parameters in people post stroke.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34058/njmr.v18i2.130Keywords:
Reliability, Internal consistency, Balance, Gait, StrokeAbstract
Background: Laboratory tools such as force platform, posturography, and Gaitrite provide precise and accurate information, but are limited in availability due to their high cost and required skilled work force. This necessitates the need for relatively inexpensive, simple and clinically accessible tools to measure the limits of stability and spatial-temporal gait parameters in people post stroke and to establish psychometric properties.
Objective: To develop and determine the internal consistency, intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of BalanceGrid and WalkMeter systems in people post stroke.
Methods: The BalanceGrid system consists of subject and grid interface and the WalkMeter system consists of a 10-meter walkway, a video camera and motion picture analysis software. The applicability of the tools was tested in 40 age-matched healthy volunteers. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), intra-rater and inter-rater reliability (ICC) of the BalanceGrid and WalkMeter tools were established in 47 people post stroke by two raters.
Results: Internal consistency reliability of BalanceGrid and WalkMeter systems was 0.94- 0.99 and 0.86-0.99, respectively. Both the clinical tools showed high intra-rater and inter-rater reliability, with an ICC of 0.82-0.99.
Conclusion: With the high reliability of the BalanceGrid and WalkMeter systems, we recommend these tools to screen and measure the balance and gait in people post stroke.
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Additional Files
- Table 1: Demographic characteristics of people post stroke
- Table 2: BalanceGrid measures and reliability in healthy individuals and people post stroke
- Table 3: Spatial-Temporal gait parameters and reliability of WalkMeter in healthy individuals and people post stroke
- Figure 1: BalanceGrid Development
- Figure 2: BalanceGrid
- Figure 3: WalkMeter & Kinovea
- Figure 4: BalanceGrid Validity with Forceplate
- Figure 5: WalkMeter Validity with GAITRite
