TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - Functional balance and mobility tests in healthy participants: reliability, error and influencing factors
JO  - Physiotherapy research international
A1  - Busse, M. E.
A1  - Tyson, S. F.
SP  - 242
EP  - 250
VL  - 12
IS  - 4
N2  - 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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p> 
LA  - en
SN  - 1358-2267
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pri.383
ID  - ref1
ER  -