Assessment of the test-retest reliability of a foot placement accuracy protocol in assisted-living older adults

摘要

Introduction: This study assessed the test-retest reliability of a foot placement accuracy protocol in a population of assisted-living elderly. The goal was to evaluate the execution of foot placement performance with increasing complexity of the walking condition. Methods: Twenty-five elderly participants (5 males, 20 females, 80.4 ± 8.6 years) were assessed by one observer in two sessions with 48. h between the measurements. Participants walked at self-selected pace along a pathway with three different walking conditions composed of two rectangular foam target locations and an obstacle on the walking surface. The main outcome measures were foot placement distance error, intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), and the smallest detectable difference (SDD). Results: Mean absolute values of the foot placement distance errors were 14.0 ± 4.5. mm for medio-lateral deviation and 27.2 ± 2.1. mm for anterior-posterior deviation, respectively. ICC values for test-retest reliability showed 'fair to good' to 'excellent' reliability across all conditions with values ranging from 0.63 to 0.94. SDD values were between 3.6 and 37.3. mm. Conclusion: The protocol showed good reliability for test-retest measurements of foot placement accuracy, thus making this protocol a reliable and location-independent tool to assess performance of foot placement in elderly in assisted-living settings. In the future, measurements with elderly fallers and non-fallers should be conducted to assess validity of the protocol.