Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Musculoskeletal Disorders

Background: Balance function is an essential indicator of physical function and falling risks. The poor balance control in cases suffering knee osteoarthriris is reported in the literature. The SWAY smartphone application is a recent mobile application used in balance assessment in patients. Purpose: This study aimed to determine the concurrent validity of SWAY in comparison to the Balance Error Scoring system (BESS) in the assessment of balance in patients with bilateral knee osteoarthritis. Further, to evaluate the test-retest reliability of SWAY in the same patients' sample. Methods: Forty patients diagnosed with bilateral knee osteoarthriris from both genders, age between 50-70 years, with Kellegren- Lawrence (KL) score grades 2- 3, participated in this study. Patients had two visits separated by one week. During the first visit, they performed SWAY Balance and BESS tests.The order of assessment was randomized and separated by two minutes.During the second visit, patients repeated the SWAY balance test only. Results: For concurrent validity, the associations between balance measures of and BESS were moderate negative significant association between BESS at foam tandem stance and sway index (Total Score) (r = -0.349, p= 0.02), moderate negative significant association with balance measure at semi tandem (r = -0.317, p= 0.04), and moderate negative significant association at tandem (r = -0.406, p= 0.009); While the reminder of association were weak non-significant association (p > 0.05). For test-retest reliability, SWAY showed moderate test-retest reliability in the measurement of sway index (total) (ICC was 0.667, with 95% CI 0.376-0.823)

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