Comparison of the SWAY Balance Mobile Application to the Abbreviated Balance Error Scoring System

Amick, R. Z., Jansen, S. D., Chaparro, A., Hakansson, N. A., Patterson, J. A., & Jorgensen, M. J.

2015

The SWAY Balance Mobile Application (SWAY Medical, LLC, Tulsa, OK) is a new method for quantifiably assessing balance in both clinical and on-field environments. The purpose of this study was to compare the accelerometer-based SWAY balance assessment to the commonly used and observation-based Abbreviated Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) balance assessment. Forty-four participants (22 male; mean age: 19.59 ± 1.23 years) completed the SWAY Balance Mobile Application protocol while the Abbreviated BESS was simultaneously scored. Bivariate linear regression was performed and correlation co-efficient calculated to determine the degree of correlation between the SWAY and Abbreviated BESS scores. The mean Abbreviated BESS score was 5.93 ± 4.45 and the mean SWAY score was 81.79 ± 14.06. A significant negative correlation was found between the two balance measures (r = −0.601, P < .0001). The SWAY balance assessment may provide for a means to quantifiably assess balance in an objective manner, thereby eliminating subjective bias in balance assessments.