Examination of a clinical method of assessing postural control during a functional performance task

Postural control and functional performance tests are often used separately during orthopedic postinjury assessments. The purpose of this investigation was to examine a clinical method of assessing postural control during a functional performance task. Thirty participants were divided into two groups. The first group was tested three times, the second group only once. The same tester evaluated each participant's performance during all testing sessions, and during the first two testing sessions (Group 1) two additional testers evaluated each performance. Intraclass correlational coefficients between the three testers ranged from .70 to .92. Session 1 (Group 1) scores were pooled with Group 2 scores, and correlational analyses were conducted between participant height and performance; no significant relationships were revealed. The scores from Group 1 were analyzed using between-days repeated-measures ANOVAs. Results revealed significant improvement between Sessions 1 and 3 for the static portion of the test. The results suggest that the multiple single-leg hop-stabilization test offers a method of assessing postural control during a functional performance task.