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Functional balance and mobility tests in healthy participants: reliability, error and influencing factors
1Physiotherapy Dept. School of Healthcare Studies, Ty Dewi Sant, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN.
Background And Purpose:
Knowledge of the measurement error and reliability of measurement tools is required to judge whether true changes in performance have occurred. How a patient's performance relates to that of a healthy individual, and which factors would influence performance, also need to be considered to assess whether a patient's performance is 'normal'. The aim of the present study was to assess within-session and test-retest reliability, and measurement error, of a hierarchical series of functional tests of balance and walking in healthy participants. Obtaining indicative data in a group of healthy participants was an additional aim.
Method:
Forty healthy participants aged 20-60 years were recruited from staff and students of Cardiff University. The participants completed eight functional balance and mobility tests on two occasions on the same day. Intra-class correlation co-efficients (ICCs), assessed within-session, and test-retest reliability and measurement error were calculated from the mean squares error term of a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). The relationship to the overall mean score was calculated and linear regression investigated the factors influencing performance.
Results:
Within-session and test-retest reliability for each of the tests was moderate to high (ICCs = 0.88-0.98 and 0.77-0.94, respectively). The overall measurement error was 3% to 11% of the mean scores. Age was the most frequent factor influencing performance; level of activity and body mass index (BMI) did not influence performance on any of the tests.
Conclusions:
Functional balance and mobility tests are reliable but are subject to random error up to 11% of the mean. The present study provides initial reference data for physiotherapists in clinical practice. It is important to begin to develop a database of a standard range of scores to give a context with which to judge more accurately the importance and relevance of clinical measurements from patients.
