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

Shamay S M Ng; Mimi M Y Tse; Peiming Chen; Tony P S Lam; Tony H T Yeung; Tai-Wa Liu; Billy C L So

doi:10.3390/ijerph20043618

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

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 17;20(4):3618. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20043618.

Authors

Shamay S M Ng^{1

2}, Mimi M Y Tse³, Peiming Chen^{1

2}, Tony P S Lam¹, Tony H T Yeung¹, Tai-Wa Liu³, Billy C L So^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Research Centre for Chinese Medicine Innovation, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ School of Nursing and Health Studies, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Background: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: The L Test is an easy-to-administer clinical test for assessing the turning ability of people with stroke.

Keywords: assessment; lower limb; stroke.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Cross-Sectional Studies
Disability Evaluation
Humans
Postural Balance
Reproducibility of Results
Stroke Rehabilitation*
Stroke*
Walking

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the research funding of the Research Centre for Chinese Medicine Innovation of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (P0041139), awarded to Shamay S. M. Ng and her team.