Psychometric properties of the Community Balance and Mobility Scale for people with stroke.
Yu Qin, Siyue Li, Peiming Chen and 2 others
PMID 41677777WHAT IT FOUND
The CB&M is a reliable balance test for chronic stroke patients.
A score of 62 or below indicates impaired balance compared to healthy adults. Changes of at least 5.35 points reflect real improvement, not just measurement error.
Key findings
01The CB&M showed excellent reliability when scored by different therapists or on separate days.
02A score of 62 effectively distinguished people with chronic stroke from healthy older adults.
03The minimal detectable change was 5.35 points, meaning scores must improve by at least this amount to be considered real.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited from a community self-help group and may have been more active or mobile than the general stroke population. The study only included adults aged 55 or older, so results may not apply to younger stroke survivors. The sample size was 60 people with stroke, which is adequate for reliability but limits broader generalizability.
Declared interests
The research was funded by the General Research Fund from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong, China. One author received this grant.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret a small score change as clinical progress. A change of less than 5.35 points on the CB&M is within the range of measurement error and does not necessarily reflect true improvement in balance.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →