Distance-limited walk tests post-stroke: A systematic review of measurement properties.
Darren Kai-Young Cheng, Matthieu Dagenais, Kyla Alsbury-Nealy and 6 others
PMID 33967070WHAT IT FOUND
The 10-metre comfortable walk test is the only measure with strong evidence across all stroke recovery phases.
For acute and subacute patients, the 5-metre comfortable test is a reliable alternative. Standardized protocols are highly reliable, but you must match the specific testing conditions to the study supporting them.
Key findings
01The 10-metre comfortable walk test is the only distance-limited test with evidence of excellent reliability and construct validity across acute, subacute, and chronic stroke phases.
02The 5-metre comfortable walk test demonstrates excellent reliability, construct validity, and sensitivity to change specifically in the acute and subacute phases.
03Most distance-limited walk test protocols show excellent reliability, but performance is affected by walking pace and surface, and results cannot be assumed to apply across different phases of recovery.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The review excluded studies using instrumented timing methods (like GaitRite) or treadmills, so findings do not apply to those settings. Most included studies enrolled people who walked faster than 0.4 m/s, limiting applicability to very slow walkers or those requiring significant assistance. The search was updated in 2017, so more recent evidence may address some identified gaps. Construct validity was limited to unadjusted correlations with specific rehabilitation outcomes, excluding other potential validity measures. Full-text screening and data extraction were primarily conducted by a single reviewer, though verified by a second.
Declared interests
The authors state that the review was guided by a protocol developed by the research team. No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest are explicitly detailed in the provided text snippets, but the work is associated with Salbach et al., who have previously published on this topic.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that any distance-limited walk test is interchangeable. The 10-metre test is the only one validated across all stroke phases, and results are significantly affected by walking pace and surface type. Using a protocol that differs from the one validated for your patient's specific recovery phase or setting may yield unreliable data.