Reliability of the Instrumented Modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction on Balance Using a Virtual Balance Device.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the instrumented version of the modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction on Balance (i-mCTSIB) using the VirtuSense VirtuBalance System™ (VSTBalance), a virtual balance device, in healthy young adults. Fifty-four subjects aged 20-27 years (Mean age 23.07, SD ± 1.6), participated in the study. A one-group design was utilized. Three trials of the i-mCTSIB were performed on two separate days to measure the mean sway velocity of the trunk under four conditions. Within-day reliability of trials 1-3 was estimated with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC_3,1) and between-day reliability was estimated using the averages of trials 1-3 on day 1 and day 2 (ICC_3,3). Within-day reliability was moderate on day 1 (ICC = 0.511-0.672) and day 2 (ICC = 0.539 -0.677). Between-day reliability was moderate to good (ICC = 0.705-0.810). The lower bounds of the confidence intervals of within-day reliability estimates were 0.341-0.548, while the lower bounds of the confidence interval for the between-day reliability estimates were 0.390-0.671. Reliability of the VSTBalance for balance assessment using the i-mCTSIB test is moderate to good. Between-day reliability was higher than within-day reliability. When using the VSTBalance to assess balance with the i-mCTSIB, clinicians should provide practice of each condition contained in the test to improve reliability. The higher between-day reliability as compared to within-day reliability suggests that clinicians should use the averages of three trials when assessing balance performance change across time for each condition of the i-mCTSIB test when assessing balance using the VSTBalance.