Measures to Assess Standing Balance in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury:A Review

Background/Aim: Standing balance after the spinal cord injury is one of the major rehabilitation goals to improve the community participation. Measurement of realistic goal of standing balance requires the use of validated scales in population with spinal cord injury. The study aimed to identify and review the psychometric properties of outcome measures used to assess standing balance in spinal cord injury.

Method: Multiple databases were searched from the earliest records to March 2019. Reliability, validity and clinical utility of measures of standing balance were extracted.

Results: Seventeen outcome measures were identified and out of these only six measures- Smart Balance Master, Berg Balance Scale, Activity-Based Balance Level Evaluation (ABLE) scale,Mini BES Test, Functional Reach Test (FRT), and Community Balance & Mobility (CB & M) Scale are direct measurements of standing balance in SCI population with reported psychometric properties.

Conclusion: There is a need for reliable and valid tests to comprehensively assess standing ability in people with SCI, which encompass a range of tasks that have relevance to ADLs.