Validity and reliability of the Dynamic One Leg Stance (DOLS) in people with vision loss

This study tests the concurrent validity and test-retest reliability of a new functional balance test - the Dynamic One Leg Stance (DOLS) in blind subjects and sighted, blindfolded subjects. Twelve blind and 12 sighted men and women between 19 and 61 years volunteered to participate. The correlation between DOLS and the commonly used One Leg Stance balance test (OLS) and the force platform test (FPT) was tested for both the right and left leg. The test-retest reliability of DOLS was analysed using three measurements at least 2 h apart. The correlation between DOLS and FPT and between DOLS and OLS for blind subjects was −0.13 (n.s.) and 0.77 for the left leg and −0.78 and 0.89 for the right leg. For blindfolded subjects, the correlations were −0.56 (n.s.) and 0.93 for the left leg and −0.61 and 0.71 for the right leg. The weighted Kappa values for DOLS were between 0.47 and 0.88 for blind subjects and between 0.47 and 0.72 for blindfolded subjects. Based on these findings, DOLS appears to be a fairly valid and reliable balance test for subjects with vision loss, acquired and experimental. However, further tests of DOLS are necessary.