Functional Balance Assessment Scales in Elderly

Abstract

Objectives Balance impairment is one of the major issues in the elderly that can influence the activities of daily living; thus, treatment of balance impairments is the leading scope of the specialists in this field. The present study identified the valid functional balance assessment scales for clinical purpose. Methods & Materials Electronic searches of PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Magiran, Iran Medex, and Iran Doc databases were conducted using keyword combinations of “assessment or evaluation or result assessment or instrument assessment” and “balance or equilibrium or posture control or sitting or standing” and “older adults or resident” and “fall or fall risk or fall prediction or balance impairment”; also manual searches and gray literature were assessed. Inclusion criteria were as follows: stated objective to assess balance, evaluation of validity and reliability properties, standard protocol and evaluation criteria and published in English or Persian. Results A total of 41 balance tests was selected. Among these, BBS, short BBS, TUG, FAB, BST, functional reach test, CTSIB, POMA, and FGA that showed the favored features of this study were selected.  Conclusion Selected tests in this study consisted of the items for use in clinical issues and fall prediction.

Keywords

• Functional balance assessment
• Fall prediction
• Fall prevention
• Elderly
• Validity
• Reliability