Toshio Teranishi, RPT, PhD, Izumi Kondo, MD, PhD, Shigeru Sonoda, MD, PhD, Hitoshi
Kagaya, MD, DMSc, Yosuke Wada, RPT, MSc, Hiroyuki Miyasaka, OTR, MSc, Genichi Tanino,
RPT, MSc, Wataru Narita, MD, BM, Hiroaki Sakurai, RPT, MSc, Makoto Okada, RPT, MSc,
Eiichi Saitoh, MD, DMSc
Jpn J Compr Rehabil Sci 1: 11-16, 2010
Purposes: To determine the reliability, validity, and
clinical signifi cance of the Standing Test for Imbalance
and Disequilibrium (SIDE), a discriminative measure
of standing balance, before using it to prevent falls in
clinical settings.
Methods: In all, 30 patients (18 men and 12 women)
with a mean (standard deviation) age of 57.4 (16.97)
years (range, 25-85 years) who were admitted to the
gKaifukukih rehabilitation ward voluntarily participated
in this study. In the reliability study, 2 physiotherapists
independently classifi ed the level of static postural
control ability by using SIDE. Functional balance
control ability was simultaneously evaluated using the
Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Cohenfs È statistic was
used to determine the inter-rater reliability, and the
Spearman rank-correlation coeffi cient between the
BBS score and SIDE level was used to determine the
criterion-related validity.
Results: Inter-rater reliability of SIDE showed
excellent reproducibility (Cohenfs È statistic = 0.76).
Criterion-related validity was very high between SIDE
levels and BBS scores (Spearman rank-correlation
coeffi cient = 0.93; p < 0.01).
Conclusion: SIDE can be used to effi ciently and
accurately classify balance control ability across
individuals and has remarkable concurrent validity in
balance evaluation compared to BBS.
Key words: evaluation methodology, postural balance, prevention of accidental falls