Reliability of modified sensory interaction test as measured with force platform

The test–retest reliability of the modified sensory interaction test on a force platform was performed in a group of 26 young and 15 elderly females for four sensory conditions: standing on firm and compliant surface with eyes open and closed. The test–retest reliability was good to excellent in both groups, with higher level of test–retest reliability in more demanding conditions. The most reliable time-domain variables for standing on firm surface with eyes open were: sway area from principal components (ICC = 0.77) for young and mean velocity, medio-lateral and total path lengths (ICC = 0.91) for elderly. For eyes closed, the most reliable variables were antero-posterior path length and sway area calculated by Fourier coefficients (ICC = 0.85) for young and medio-lateral path length (ICC = 0.93) for elderly. For compliant surface with open eyes, the most reliable variable was medio-lateral variability (ICC = 0.83) for young and total path length and mean velocity (ICC = 0.92) for elderly participants, whereas for eyes closed the most reliable variables were mean velocity, total and medio-lateral path lengths for young, and mean velocity for elderly group, all with ICC = 0.90. Modified sensory interaction test is therefore a reliable measure for balance and could be recommended as an outcome measure for balance retraining programmes.