Differences in Responses on the Modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction and Balance on Medium Firm and Medium Density Foam in Healthy Controls and Patients with Vestibular Disorders.

Purpose: To determine whether foam density affects modified Romberg balance test performance.

Materials and methods: Controls and patients with vestibular disorders performed Romberg tests on medium and medium firm foam, with their eyes closed and the head still and moving in yaw and pitch. The trial duration and number of head movements were measured.

Results: Subjects aged >60 years performed longer and with more head movements on medium firm foam than on medium foam. Older controls did not differ between medium firm and medium foam. Older patients had higher scores on head-still and head-yaw trials on medium firm foam versus medium foam but pitch trials did not differ. Females, controls, and patients had longer trial durations and more head movements on medium firm foam than on medium density foam; male controls did not differ by foam density. Male patients differed in yaw trials.

Conclusion: Foam density affects scores. Clinical decision-making may be adversely affected if the clinician uses foam of a density that is not the same as that of the foam that was used in the studies that developed descriptive statistics, sensitivity, and specificity.