Interdisciplinary expert agreement on group and definitions for compensatory protective step strategies to prevent falls: A e-Delphi method study.
Maria Melo-Alonso, Juan Luis Leon-Llamas, Santos Villafaina and 4 others
PMID 40398080WHAT IT FOUND
Fourteen experts agreed on precise definitions for 14 compensatory step strategies used to recover balance.
The group clarified ambiguous terms and distinguished between true strategies and unintended limb collisions, creating a standard language for fall prevention research and practice.
Key findings
01The panel established consensus on definitions for 14 distinct compensatory step strategies, reducing the initial list of 61 definitions to a standardized set.
02Experts reclassified 'limb collision' not as a distinct recovery strategy, but as a 'compensatory limb collision step' that increases fall risk by impeding balance recovery.
03All proposed definitions achieved sufficient content validity, with no items eliminated, though wording for four strategies was refined for clarity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The expert panel was small (14 people) and selected via convenience sampling, which may introduce bias. The panel was predominantly male (11 of 14) and from Spanish institutions, limiting generalizability to other cultures or genders. The definitions were based on a previous scoping review by the same research group, which may have influenced the initial framework. The study establishes terminology but does not validate these definitions against clinical outcomes or patient performance.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design, data collection, analysis, or writing of the manuscript.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this paper validates the effectiveness of any specific fall prevention treatment. It only standardizes the names and definitions of the strategies researchers use to describe how people recover balance.