First Advisor

Laurie A. King

Date of Award

Spring 2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Public Health Studies: Pre-clinical Health Science and University Honors

Department

Health Studies

Language

English

Subjects

Brain damage -- Research, Equilibrium (Physiology), Brain -- Concussion, Sports injuries

DOI

10.15760/honors.943

Abstract

Balance deficits are common following mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and can persist beyond the standard recovery period. Advances in wearable technologies, such as inertial measurement units (IMUs), have increased utilization of instrumented balance assessments. There are limited studies providing normative ranges for the Balance Error Scoring System (mBESS) to characterize abnormalities in people with mTBI. This thesis provides balance ranges for athletes with acute mTBI and normative control populations completing the mBESS. Testing occurred at the university athletic facility or the Balance Disorders Laboratory at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System (VAPORHCS). Data from 102 healthy participants and 50 athletes with acute mTBI were collected. The primary outcome was the medio-lateral root-mean-square of sway (ML RMS Sway) in three mBESS stance conditions and the average ML RMS Sway of all conditions. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) evaluated differences between groups. Main effects were significant for ML RMS Sway for DS, SS, and the average across all conditions. Percentiles were provided to guide team physicians and athletic trainers in assessing instrumented balance in these populations. Limitations include not assessing sex differences in ML RMS Sway and not reporting more sway measures, such as RMS Sway in the anterior-posterior (A/P) direction. Future research should collect data for non-athlete groups with acute mTBI and assess sex differences and obtain other sway measures. Providing normative data allows team physicians and athletic trainers to better determine return-to-play (RTP) and recovery timelines following an mTBI.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/33473

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