Validation of the Wii Balance Board to assess balance modifications induced by increased respiratory loads in healthy subjects.

BACKGROUND:There is a link between breathing and balance and posture. When the inspiratory loads are increased by pathologies, there is a decrease of postural control. The increase of the inspiratory load on respiratory muscles is a common feature in various chronic pulmonary pathologies. Consequently, the balance of those patients is likely affected. RESEARCH QUESTION:The aim of this study is to validate the use of the Nintendo Wii Balance Board (WBB) to assess balance modifications induced by increased respiratory loads in healthy subjects. METHODS:Thirty-seven healthy young participants (25 ± 4 years old, 17 women) participated in this study. Five different conditions were tested: without anything (control), throughout a mouthpiece, and throughout three inspiratory threshold loads (ITL) at 10% (low), 40% (mid) and 60% (high) of the maximal inspiratory pressure. Each trial lasted for 60 s. Nine parameters were extracted based on center of pressure displacement based on a previously-validated method. ANOVA tests were used to compare the different conditions followed by Bonferroni's corrections. RESULTS:Highly statistically significant differences (all p <  0.01) and large effect sizes (all ω2 > 0.24) were obtained for all parameters between the different loads and the mouthpiece condition. There is a linear relationship between the load and balance perturbation. SIGNIFICANCE:In this study, we demonstrated the validity of the WBB to detect the effect of the inspiratory load on balance in young healthy subjects. Further studies are needed to determine if such a kind of evaluation can be used in clinics with patients suffering from chronic respiratory disease.