An evaluation of the reliability of the foot-tapping test in a healthy sample

Brian A Pribble; Christopher D Black; Daniel J Larson; Rebecca D Larson

doi:10.1016/j.foot.2021.101851

An evaluation of the reliability of the foot-tapping test in a healthy sample

Foot (Edinb). 2021 Sep:48:101851. doi: 10.1016/j.foot.2021.101851. Epub 2021 Jul 12.

Authors

Brian A Pribble¹, Christopher D Black², Daniel J Larson³, Rebecca D Larson⁴

Affiliations

¹ The University of Oklahoma, Department of Health and Exercise Science, 1401 Asp Ave, Room 104, Norman, OK 73019, United States. Electronic address: Brian.a.pribble-1@ou.edu.
² The University of Oklahoma, Department of Health and Exercise Science, 1401 Asp Ave, Room 104, Norman, OK 73019, United States. Electronic address: cblack@ou.edu.
³ The University of Oklahoma, Department of Health and Exercise Science, 1401 Asp Ave, Room 104, Norman, OK 73019, United States. Electronic address: larsondj@ou.edu.
⁴ The University of Oklahoma, Department of Health and Exercise Science, 1401 Asp Ave, Room 104, Norman, OK 73019, United States. Electronic address: rdlarson@ou.edu.

PMID: 34385026
DOI: 10.1016/j.foot.2021.101851

Abstract

The foot-tapping test (FTT) can be used to assess upper motor neuron dysfunction in clinical populations. However, relatively little is known regarding the reliability or normative values of the FTT in either healthy or clinical populations. Although several different FTT methods have been used, no study to date has demonstrated the reliability or validity of FTT by comparing it across several different counting methods in healthy persons. This unfortunately limits its usefulness in medicine and research.

Objective: This study sought to examine the reliability and validity of the FTT in healthy individuals to determine its usefulness and to make recommendations for its implementation in clinical populations. Furthermore, the concurrent validity and reliability of using a force plate as an objective measure of foot-taps was considered.

Design: Thirty-eight healthy individuals had their foot-tapping assessed using Live, Force Plate, and Video Counting methods over four separate visits.

Methods: Participants were seated as per previous FTT recommendations and asked to tap their foot in 10-second intervals while the number of taps was counted via Live, Video, and Force Plate counters. This was done with both legs, with shoes ON and OFF, and repeated over four separate visits.

Results: Despite significant differences between repeat trials for Force Plate and Video Counts (∼2 foot-taps, p < 0.01), test-retest reliability was high for all three methods (Pearson's R > 0.90). Dominant foot trials were higher (∼2 foot-taps, p < 0.05) than Non-dominant for all three counts. When performed with shoes ON, counts were higher (∼2 foot-taps, p < 0.05) than OFF for the Live and Force Plate counts. Reliability between visits was high (ICC > 0.80) and only the Video count was significantly lower for Visit 1 (p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Given findings, the authors suggest using a Force Plate counting method and have compiled a list of suggestions for future implementation of the FTT.

Keywords: FTT; Foot-Tapping test; Repetitive tapping; Test reliability; Upper motor neuron assessment.

MeSH terms

Foot*
Humans
Reproducibility of Results
Research Design
Shoes*