The Foulage test is a stabilometer-based dynamic equilibrium assessment that enables quantitative evaluation of postural instability during stepping-like movement. However, its relationship with the conventional Fukuda stepping test (also known as the Unterberger stepping test) has not been fully clarified....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
If the Fukuda Stepping Test and Foulage Test show meaningful correlation in Ménière's patients, the simpler Fukuda test may serve as a low-cost proxy for platform-based balance assessment, but clinicians should await broader validation before replacing current protocols.
Validating a low-cost, easy-to-administer balance test against an objective stabilometry platform could improve postural assessment accessibility for Ménière's disease in resource-limited clinical settings.
- 01Study compared the Fukuda Stepping Test (walking in place blindfolded) with the stabilometer-based Foulage Test in balance assessment.
- 02Included both healthy adults and patients diagnosed with Ménière's disease.
- 03Published in Cureus (doi: 10.7759/cureus.107722).
- 04Aims to establish whether a simple clinical test can substitute for more complex equipment-based balance measurement.
- 05Findings could influence vestibular assessment workflows if correlation is confirmed.
The Fukuda Stepping Test and the stabilometer-based Foulage Test are associated in quantifying postural instability in patients with Ménière's disease.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42205660
- DOI
- 10.7759/cureus.107722.
- Journal
- Cureus
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 3
- Population
- Healthy adults and patients with Ménière's disease
- Intervention
- Fukuda Stepping Test for postural instability assessment
- Comparator
- Stabilometer-based Foulage Test
Primary outcomes
Association between Fukuda Stepping Test and Foulage Test parameters; Quantitative postural instability scores