IS FOOTEDNESS CONSISTENT?

Objective: The assessment of foot preference uses both self-report questionnaires and observation of task performance. The objective of the present study is to verify the reliability of an online version of the Lateral Preference Inventory (LPI) and to compare the footedness index of LPI with the consistency of selection of the lower limb for the performance of four asymmetrical tasks.

Design: Test-retest reliability study.

Settings: An online version of the LPI was used to assess the lateral profile of subjects for handedness, footedness, eyedness and eardness. The results were compared with those obtained one month later by observation of the subjects performing LPI tasks. The footedness index score was compared with the consistency score of lower limb selection for asymmetrical task performance.

Subjects: The online version of the LPI was filled by 164 subjects. A sample of 33 subjects (22 female and 11 male) volunteered for the observational part of the study.

Main Outcome Measures: The intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficient was used to verify the reliability between all variables studied.

Results: Good results between the online version and observation phase of the LPI were obtained for handedness, footedness and eyedness. Eardness revealed non-acceptable results. Non-acceptable results were obtained between the LPI footedness index and the consistency of lower limb selection in the asymmetrical tasks.

Conclusions: The online version of LPI seems suitable for laterality studies considering handedness, footedness and eyedness but not eardness. The non-dominant lower limb is preferred used for asymmetrical tasks revealing a conflicting result regarding footedness definition or offering support to the “no lower limb dominance theory”.