Reliability of the Functional Reach Test and the influence of anthropometric characteristics on test results in subjects with hemiparesis

Abstract

First designed as an alternative method of assessing balance and susceptibility to falls among elderly, the Functional Reach Test (FR) has also been used among patients with hemiparesis. Then this study aimed to describe the intra- and inter-rater and the test/re-test reliability of the FR measure in subjects with and without hemiparesis while verifying anthropometric influences on the measurements. The FR was administered to a sample of subjects with hemiparesis and to a control group that was matched by gender and age. A two-way analysis of variance was used to verify the intra-rater reliability. It was calculated using the differences between the averages of the measures obtained during single, double or triple trials. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was utilized and data plotted using the Bland-Altman method. Associations were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. In general, the intra-rater analysis did not show significant differences between the measures for the single, double or triple trials. Excellent ICC values were observed, and there were no significant associations with anthropometric parameters for the hemiparesis and control subjects. FR showed good reliability for patients with and without hemiparesis and the test measurements were not significantly associated with the anthropometric characteristics of the subjects.