Availability of Functional Reach Test for Balance Evaluation of the Elderly Through Sensory Organization Test

Department of Physical Therapy, Daegu Health College PurposeThe purposes of this study were to investigate the age-related difference in balance ability in the elderly over 65 years and to verify the clinical usefulness of the functional reach test (FRT) for balance evaluation of the elderly through the sensory organization test (SOT). MethodsThe subjects were forty-six community dwelling elderly people over 65 years old in order to verify the correlation of balance measures and to compare the balance ability. Balance was measured using the FRT and the six sub-equilibrium scores and the composite equilibrium score of the SOT. Pearson's product correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationships among these measurements of balance. ResultsThere was a significant difference in functional reach by age in the elderly (p<.01). There was a significant negative correlation between the FRT and the age of the elderly (r=-.396, p<.01). There was also significant high positive correlation between the FRT and the eye closed sway surface (EC/SS) (r=.789, p<.01), and composite equilibrium score (r=.548, p<.01) of the SOT . ConclusionThus, it is possible to use the FRT as a quantitative measure of balance, rather than the SOT, which is more expensive and complicated to evaluate elderly people. According to the results of this study, the use of the FRT is required clinically to objectively measure the balance of elderly people in the future.Key WordsBalance, Functional Reach Test, Sensory Organization Test, Elderly