Comparison of the Mini-Balance Evaluations Systems Test with the Berg Balance Scale in relationship to walking speed and motor recovery post stroke.
Sangeetha Madhavan, Alka Bishnoi
PMID 28826325WHAT IT FOUND
The Mini-BESTest separated slow from fast walkers better than the Berg Balance Scale in chronic stroke.
A cut-off of 18.5 helped identify walkers at 0.8 m/s or faster.
Key findings
01Mini-BESTest scores differed between slow and fast walkers, while Berg scores did not.
02The Mini-BESTest had a significant area under the curve for classifying walkers, while the Berg did not.
03A Mini-BESTest cut-off of 18.5 identified fast walkers with 93% sensitivity and 64% specificity; a Berg cut-off of 47.5 identified them with 81% sensitivity and 56% specificity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was retrospective and exploratory, with 41 participants. It used baseline data from an ongoing trial. The sample was narrow: chronic stroke survivors with first-ever unilateral stroke, residual hemiparetic gait deficits, ability to walk at least five minutes, lower-limb Fugl-Meyer 20-30, and no cognitive impairment below 24 on the Mini-Mental State Examination. It excluded brainstem or cerebellar lesions, prior orthopedic injuries, and uncontrolled cardiorespiratory or metabolic disease. The Berg classification was not significant (p = 0.06). The cut-off points were selected from the same participants. The paper says further research is needed to know whether the cut-off translates to faster walking speeds with therapy.
Declared interests
The paper lists NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the Mini-BESTest cut-off of 18.5 as evidence that therapy will improve walking speed. The study only classified current slow and fast walkers in 41 chronic stroke survivors, and the Berg classification result was not significant.