91 How to identify fallers and non-fallers in people with HSP Table 1: Differences between participants with HSP and healthy controls regarding clinical and biomechanical measures at comfortable treadmill velocity HSP (n=33) HC (n=15) P-value Clinical assessment Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale – six-item 56 ± 23 92 ± 78 < 0.001 Mini-BEST 19.5 ± 4.5 27.0 ± 1.0 < 0.001 Ten-meter walk test – comfortable (ms-1) 1.3 ± 0.3 1.6 ± 0.2 < 0.001 Ten-meter walk test – fast (ms-1) 1.7 ± 0.3 2.4 ± 0.4 < 0.001 Biomechanical assessment Step width (mm) 125 ± 44 94 ± 33 0.021 Coefficient of variation • Step length (%) 7.3 ± 5 2.4 ± 0.6 < 0.001 • Step time (%) 4.9 ± 3 2.1 ± 0.5 < 0.001 • Step width (%) 27.5 ± 13 27.1 ± 13.4 0.973 Mediolateral Margin of Stability (MoS) (mm) 45.8 ± 17 47.6 ± 10.6 0.696 Variability of MoS (mm) 13.4 ± 8 14.3 ± 6.8 0.368 Mediolateral Foot Placement Deviation (cm) 1.0 ± 0.3 0.7 ± 0.2 < 0.001 Local Divergence Exponents • Trunk - mediolateral 1.5 ± 0.3 1.8 ± 0.2 < 0.001 • Trunk - anteroposterior 1.7 ± 0.3 1.6 ± 0.2 0.019 • Trunk - vertical 1.4 ± 0.2 1.3 ± 0.1 0.013 • Pelvis - mediolateral 1.3 ± 0.2 1.1 ± 0.2 0.064 • Pelvis - anteroposterior 1.5 ± 0.3 1.3 ± 0.2 0.008 • Pelvis - vertical 1.3 ± 0.2 1.2 ± 0.1 0.008 Values displayed are means ± standard deviation. Abbreviations: Mini-BEST: Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test. Mini-BEST ranges between 0-28 points; Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale – six-item ranges between 0-100 points. Differences between fallers and non-fallers A total of 32 participants with HSP returned a completed fall-diary over a period of fifteen weeks; one participant experienced technical difficulties. Of these 32 participants, 14 (44%) reported one or more falls and were categorized as ‘fallers’. The reported fall rates ranged between 1-5 falls per participant (1 fall (n=7); 2 falls (n=2); 3 falls (n=1); 4 falls (n=3) and 5 falls (n=1)). The remaining 18 participants did not report any falls and were categorized as ‘non-fallers’. Fallers and non-fallers did not differ in terms of age (50 ± 9 vs. 48 ± 13; p=0.70), sex (71% vs 78% males; p=0.68), time since first symptom onset (19 ±12 years vs. 12±10 years, p=0.084), SPRS scores (11.2 ± 4.1 vs. 9.1 ± 3.6, p=0.145), or the percentage spent walking on a daily basis (7.4% ± 2.8 vs. 9.0% ± 3.1, p=0.15). Two fallers (14% of fallers) used the treadmill bars to restore balance (one participant two times, one participant eight times), whereas three non-fallers (17% of non-fallers) used the treadmill bars 6
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