Assessment of balance strategies: effect of examiner ability and comparison between an observational and a quantitative method

• Grant number: 06/03484-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2006
• End date: December 31, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Clarice Tanaka
• Grantee: Rodrigo Marcinkevicius Saltão
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Balance strategies are largely studied by mean of instrumented evaluations, especially in elderly people and neurological disease. However, there are no reports explaining clinical assessment of balance strategies. Also, instrumented assessment of balance strategies has high cost and is not very practical. This undergraduate research project is part of a major project which objective is to validate a clinical protocol to assess balance strategies. In this part of the project we are addressing: (I) intra and inter- examiners reproducibility of the proposed clinical protocol to assess balance strategies: (II) the effect of examiner ability in the reproducibility of the protocol; (III) quantify the body segments angular motion of the examiners assessment. Anticipatory and compensatory postural adjustments of 30 participants will be acquired by a digital video camera and two examiners group (physical therapists with two-three years of experience and undergraduate students enrolled in the last year of physiotherapy program) will proceeds the assessment using pre-elaborated protocols. The angular motion of observational assessment of examiners will be done by relationship with quantitative results obtained with software Ariel Posture Analysis System®. (AU)