Test-retest reliability of stability outcome measures during treadmill walking

To quantify balance control during walking, different stability outcome measured based on the (extrapolated) centre of mass ((X)CoM), base of support (BoS) and centre of pressure (CoP) have been proposed. Healthy controls (n=20) and patients with balance and gait problems (n=45) performed two times a two-minute walk test (2MWT) on an instrumented treadmill. The test-retest reliability of six stability outcome measures in anterior-posterior and mediolateral direction was moderate to excellent. Since the XCoM-CoPML and CoM-CoPML-angle showed no differences between the measurements and smaller coefficients of repeatability (CRs) than the differences between patients and controls, the XCoM-CoPML and CoM-CoPML-angle are the most promising stability outcome measures in patients with balance and gait problems.