TY - JOUR PY - 2022// TI - Improvement in balance from diagnosis to return-to-play initiation following a sport-related concussion: BESS scores vs center-of-pressure measures JO - Brain injury A1 - Ulman, Sophia A1 - Erdman, Ashley L. A1 - Loewen, Alex A1 - Worrall, Hannah M. A1 - Tulchin-Francis, Kirsten A1 - Jones, Jacob C. A1 - Chung, Jane S. A1 - Ellis, Henry B. A1 - Cullum, C. Munro A1 - Miller, Shane M. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - OBJECTIVE: Accurate assessment of balance recovery throughout treatment of a sport-related concussion is imperative. This study examined differences in balance from diagnosis to return-to-play initiation in adolescent patients post-concussion. Second, this study investigated the extent to which the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) correlated with center-of-pressure (COP) measures.

METHODS: Forty participants performed the BESS while standing on a force platform such that COP data were obtained simultaneously. Spatial and velocity COP-based measures were computed for the double-stance conditions.

RESULTS: BESS scores and COP-based measures indicated improved balance performance between visits. Specifically, 62.5/65.0% of participants exhibited improved firm/foam BESS final scores, respectively, and 56.4-71.8% exhibited improved COP-based measures. However, once normative ranges were referenced to identify maintained performance, the percentage of participants who substantially improved differed from initial findings (BESS: 2.5/7.5%, COP: 48.7-69.2%). Additionally, positive correlations between balance measures were primarily found at diagnosis (r=0.33-0.53), while only three correlations were maintained at return-to-play initiation (r=0.34-0.39).

CONCLUSIONS: BESS scores successfully identified poor balance performance at diagnosis when symptoms were most pronounced, but failed to accurately depict performance once balance impairment, indicated by COP-based measures, became less apparent. Further work is needed to implement more advanced balance assessments into clinical environments.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0269-9052 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2022.2109736 ID - ref1 ER -