Assessing the Turning Ability during Walking in People with Stroke Using L Test

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2023-02, Vol.20 (4), p.3618
• Main Authors: Ng, Shamay S M, Tse, Mimi M Y, Chen, Peiming, Lam, Tony P S, Yeung, Tony H T, Liu, Tai-Wa, So, Billy C L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Aged; Completion time; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disability Evaluation; Humans; Mobility; Older people; Postural Balance; Reliability analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Stroke; Stroke patients; Stroke Rehabilitation; Walking
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20043618

The L Test of Functional Mobility (L Test) was developed to assess the advanced mobility, which includes both turning and walking ability. This study aimed to evaluate (1) the intra-rater reliability of the L Test in four turning conditions, (2) the correlation with other stroke-specific impairment for community-dwelling older adults with stroke, and (3) the optimal cut-off completion time of the L Test to distinguish the difference of performance between healthy older adults and people with stroke. This is a cross-sectional design. Thirty older adults with stroke and healthy older adults were included. The subjects were assessed by L Test along with other stroke-specific outcomes. The L Test showed excellent intra-rater reliability (ICC = 0.945-0.978) for the four turning conditions. There were significant correlations between L Test completion times and Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Lower Extremity (FMA-LE) scores, Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) scores, Berg Balance Scale (BBS) score, and Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test scores. The cut-off of the L Test was established as 23.41-24.13 s. The L Test is an easy-to-administer clinical test for assessing the turning ability of people with stroke.