Validity of the Nintendo Wii(R) balance board for the assessment of standing balance in Parkinson's disease.

Clinical Rehabilitation 2012 Sept 7 (Epub ahead of print)

 Holmes JD, Jenkins ME, Johnson AM, Hunt MA, Clark RA.

School of Occupational Therapy, The University of Western Ontario, Canada.

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Abstract 
Background:Impaired postural stability places individuals with Parkinson's at an increased risk for falls. Given the high incidence of fall-related injuries within this population, ongoing assessment of postural stability is important.

Objective:To evaluate the validity of the Nintendo Wii(®) balance board as a measurement tool for the assessment of postural stability in individuals with Parkinson's.

Subjects:Twenty individuals with Parkinson's participated.

Intervention:Subjects completed testing on two balance tasks with eyes open and closed on a Wii(®) balance board and biomechanical force platform.Main

Measures:Bland-Altman plots and a two-way, random-effects, single measure intraclass correlation coefficient model were used to assess concurrent validity of centre-of-pressure data.

Results:Concurrent validity was demonstrated to be excellent across balance tasks (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.96, 0.98, 0.92, 0.94).

Conclusions:This study suggests that the Wii(®) balance board is a valid tool for the quantification of postural stability among individuals with Parkinson's.

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