TITLE:
Reliability and Sex Differences in the Foot Pressure Load Balance Test and Its Relationship to Physical Characteristics in Preschool Children
AUTHORS:
Shigeki Matsuda, Shinichi Demura, Kosho Kasuga, Hiroki Sugiura
KEYWORDS:
Foot Pressure Load Balance; Preschool Children; Sex Difference; Reliability
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.2 No.2,
May
14,
2012
ABSTRACT: This study aimed to examine the trial-to-trial reliability and sex differences in a foot pressure load balance test and its relationship to physical characteristics in 396 preschool children (201 boys and 195 girls). The subjects were asked to maintain an upright standing posture for 10 seconds three times on the Footview Clinic, an instrument designed to calculate the right-left and anterior-posterior ratios of foot pressure load. The ratios of the left and anterior foot pressure loads in right and left feet were selected as variables. Intra-class correlation coefficients between the second and third trials in all variables were high (intra-class correlation coefficients = 0.70 - 0.90). The above variables showed insignificant sex differences and little relationships with physique. When measuring foot pressure load balance, it is desirable to use a mean of the second and third trials as a representative.