The effect of body mass on performance of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT)

Background Obesity is a global health epidemic and considered a pre-requisite to falls due to the effect of increased mass on balance capability. There is limited research on the effect of increased mass on dynamic balance. The narrow scope of research that does exist assesses balance with sophisticated instruments which lack transferability to the clinical setting. The SEBT is a common clinical tool which has proven to be reliable and sensitive in detecting chronic ankle instability and risk of lower limb injury in athletes. To date, no studies have implemented the SEBT in analysing the effect of obesity or increased mass on balance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of increased body mass on performance of the SEBT.