The Measurement of Balance and Walking Post-Stroke. Part 2: Functional Performance Tests

Abstract

The rehabilitation of balance and walking is a primary goal of stroke physiotherapy and our main interest is to assess the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions. The literature was reviewed to seek functional performance tests (ratio and interval tests which require the subject to perform a balance or walking task) that would be suitable for such a purpose. CINAHL, Medline and Embase databases were searched for tests which measured balance and/or walking post-stroke and could be used in clinical settings. They were assessed for reliability, validity, sensitivity to change, suitability for use in clinical settings and with a wide range of stroke severity. Fourteen tests were identified. All had some information about their psychometric properties. They were generally reliable, valid, and sensitive to change, easy to use and suitable for community and hospital settings. An exception was timed balance tests, which showed poor reliability and validity. The main disadvantage is that any test is only suitable for a narrow range of ability, there is also insufficient information about the measurement error to be able to judge whether they could be used to assess the effects of specific interventions.