Effect of spectators on the performance of a physiotherapy exercise

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of spectators on the performance of a physiotherapy exercise. Design Observational study. Setting Research laboratory, Trinity College Dublin. Participants Forty adult volunteer subjects (36 females, four males). As there were only four males, these were excluded from the analysis. Interventions Subjects were observed and timed while performing single leg stance in two conditions 48 hours apart; once with the investigator present (investigator condition) and once with the investigator and three spectators present (spectator condition). Main outcome measure Duration of single leg stance in seconds. Results The mean duration of single leg stance, for females, under the investigator condition was 173 seconds [95% confidence interval (CI) 131 to 214], while that of the spectator condition was 168 seconds (95%CI 128 to 208). The mean difference between the two conditions was 5 seconds (95%CI −21 to 31). This was not statistically significant using a paired t-test ( P = 0.686). Conclusions Female performance of a straightforward exercise such as single leg stance was not affected by the presence of three spectators.