Stabilometry Test: Measure Patients’ Postural Equilibrium
What is the stabilometry test?
Stabilometry is a technique used in clinical practice to analyse the body sway of a patient to measure their stability of stance or postural equilibrium.
It’s one of the most popularly used and most relevant tests when it comes to evaluating a patient’s balance system, which only highlights the importance of measuring it with the right tools.
How does Equio measure stabilometry?
Equio analyses the Center of Pressure (CoP) under four different sensory conditions to help clinicians determine how the patient’s sensory inputs are affecting their balance.
The four different sensory scenarios are the following:
- Eyes open on flat surface
- Eyes closed on flat surface
- Eyes open on soft surface
- Eyes closed on soft surface
Instructions
To kick off the assessment, the therapist will pick the perfect leg position for the user. There are 3 possible leg positions depending on the patient’s condition:
- Both legs
- Tandem
- One leg
For this test it’s very important that the feet are placed in the center of the Equio.
If we’re testing on a soft surface, we’ll need a foam block (standard 48cm x 40cm x 6cm) on top of our Equio board.
Once we’ve set up, the user stands with their ankles touching above the center of the board, facing the screen. Then, the supervisor selects the duration for each task and clicks Begin. Let’s get started!
We will be testing the four different conditions that we previously mentioned. After each one of them we will get a result for 5 different parameters, like in the picture below. Don’t worry, we’ll get into the parameters later on!
After all conditions have been successfully tested, we will be able to compare all the parameters under the four different conditions.
Interpretation of the result
Once the stabilometry assessment is completed, we’ll get an image of the user’s center of pressure (COP) path, complete with an ellipse (in blue) that covers 95% of the patient’s path! We’ll also get stats on the length of the COP path, sway in both the sideways (ML) and forward-backward direction (AP), the area of the ellipse, and the user’s velocity.
Common questions:
- Should I place the foam pad above Equio or under it when doing soft surface conditions?
The foam pad should be placed above the Equio, never under it, since Equio’s sensors need to be placed directly on the floor.
Do you have any questions regarding the Stabilometry assessment? Leave us a comment in the contact us section and we will help you.
References
Terekhov, Y. (1976, October 10). Stabilometry as a diagnostic tool in clinical medicine. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1878799/
VERTIGO & DEAFNESS CLINIC. (2018, September 29). Stabilometry – Vertigo And Deafness Clinic. Vertigo and Deafness Clinic. https://www.vertigoclinic.in/stabilometry/