Validity of the Nintendo Wii ® balance board for the assessment of standing balance in Parkinson’s disease

BACKGROUND: Impaired postural stability places individuals with Parkinson's at an increased risk for falls. Given the high incidence of fall-related injuries within this population, ongoing assessment of postural stability is important. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the validity of the Nintendo Wii(®) balance board as a measurement tool for the assessment of postural stability in individuals with Parkinson's. SUBJECTS: Twenty individuals with Parkinson's participated. INTERVENTION: Subjects completed testing on two balance tasks with eyes open and closed on a Wii(®) balance board and biomechanical force platform. MAIN MEASURES: Bland-Altman plots and a two-way, random-effects, single measure intraclass correlation coefficient model were used to assess concurrent validity of centre-of-pressure data. RESULTS: Concurrent validity was demonstrated to be excellent across balance tasks (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.96, 0.98, 0.92, 0.94). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the Wii(®) balance board is a valid tool for the quantification of postural stability among individuals with Parkinson's.