Intra-Rater Reproducibility and Validity of Nintendo Wii Balance Testing in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

The aims of the current study were to (1) examine the intra-rater inter-session reproducibility of the Nintendo Wii Agility and Stillness tests and (2) explore the concurrent validity in relation to ‘gold-standard’ force plate analysis. Within-day inter-session reproducibility was examined in 30 older adults (age 71.8±5.1 yrs.). No systematic test-retest differences were found for the Wii Stillness test, however, the Wii Agility test scores differed systematically between test sessions (p<0.05). The Wii Stillness test yielded a test-retest ICC of 0.86 (95% CI 0.74-0.93), CV of 6.4%, LOA of 11.0 and LOA% of 17.9%. Likewise for the Wii Agility test ICC was 0.73 (95% CI 0.50-0.86), CV 5.3%, LOA 1.8 and LOA% of 14.6%. Wii Stillness scores correlated to force plate measures (r=0.65-0.82, p<0.01), reflecting moderate-to-excellent validity. In conclusion, it appears that the Wii Stillness test represents a low-cost objective reproducible and valid test of postural balance in community-dwelling older adults.

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