Award Date

5-2013

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

Advisor 1

Merrill Landers

First Committee Member

Merrill Landers

Second Committee Member

Robbin Hickman, Research Project Coordinator

Number of Pages

41

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to establish reliability and responsiveness of the active dynamic visual acuity test (DVAT) at speeds of 150 to 200 degrees per second (deg/sec) and the gaze stabilization test (GST) in high school and college football players.

Design: Reliability design

Setting, Participants, Main Outcome Measures: A total of 50 high school and college football athletes completed vestibulo-ocular reflex testing using the DVAT and GST in the yaw (horizontal) and pitch (vertical) planes on two separate occasions within 14 days.

Results: Test-retest reliability for the DVAT was good in yaw, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) (3,3) = 0.770 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.595 to 0.861), and moderate to good in pitch, ICC (3,3) = 0.725 (95% CI: 0.515 to 0.844). Minimal detectable change (MDC) at the 95% confidence level was 0.16 logMAR for yaw and 0.21 logMAR for pitch. Test-retest reliability for the GST was moderate in yaw, ICC (3,3) = 0.634 (95% CI: 0.355 to 0.792), and poor in pitch, ICC (3,3) = 0.411 (95% CI: -0.037 to 0.666). MDC was 73.4 deg/sec for yaw and 81.2 deg/sec for pitch.

Conclusions: Our results provide evidence that the DVAT is reliable at relatively high speeds in high school and college football athletes in both yaw and pitch. GST speeds were considerably higher than previously reported in the literature, but reliability of this tool for this population is only poor to moderate according to our results. From a clinical perspective, DVAT can be reliably used in the assessment of vestibular concussion for high school and college football athletes; however, GST requires further evaluation of its reliability and clinical use.

Keywords

Brain – Concussion – Diagnosis; College football players; Football injuries; High school football players; Reliability; Responsiveness; Vestibulo-ocular reflex; Visual acuity

Disciplines

Kinesiotherapy | Physical Therapy | Rehabilitation and Therapy | Sports Sciences

File Format

pdf

File Size

756 Kb

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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