Evaluating the Balancing Ability of Older Adults with Diabetes Mellitus Using the Multi-directional Reach Test.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of elderly people experiencing falls is currently increasing, which results in serious medical issues, such as fear of falling, limited physical activity, disability, and bone fractures, especially hip fractures. This study aimed to investigate balancing ability using a multi-directional reach test (MDRT) in older adults with and without diabetes mellitus. METHODS: 72 older adults with and without diabetes mellitus were recruited, and divided into two groups, including older adults without diabetes mellitus (n = 36) and older adults with diabetes mellitus (n = 36). All subjects completed all directions of the MDRT. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in MDRT scores in all directions between the two groups (p>0.05). Both groups achieved the highest MDRT scores in the forward direction. In contrast, the two groups had the lowest scores of MDRT in a backward direction. Furthermore, older adults with diabetes mellitus had lower MDRT scores in all directions than older adults without diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSION: The current study indicated that MDRT could be used to investigate the ability of balance in individuals with diabetes mellitus.

The multi-directional reach test in children with Down syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the limits of stability (LOS) and the movement patterns during reaching by applying the Multi-Directional Reach Test (MDRT) in children with Down syndrome (DS) aged 7-12 years old. METHODS: Thirty children with DS and 30 age and gender typical development (TD) matched children, aged 7-12 years old were recruited. Each child was asked to reach as far as possible during standing in four directions using a self-selected movement pattern. The movement patterns were classified by two experienced pediatric physical therapists. RESULTS: The reach distance in children with DS aged 7-9 years old was significantly shorter than TD children aged 7-9 years old for the forward and backward directions. Also, the reach distance in DS children aged 7-9 years old was significantly smaller than that of TD children aged 10-12 years old for all directions. For children with DS aged 10-12 years old, the reach distance was significantly less than that of TD children only in the backward direction. All children with DS in this study adopt a hip and mixed strategy during forward and backward reaching. In contrast, TD children adopt an adult-like movement pattern. CONCLUSION: The boundary of stability in an anteroposterior (AP) direction of children with DS aged 7-12 years old was lesser than the matched TD children, especially for the backward direction. These findings may assist therapists in detecting postural control and balance problems in children with DS.

Advance in Application of Functional Reach Test (review) / 中国康复理论与实践

The evaluation of balance includes clinical observation, scales and instrumental measures. Functional Reach Test is simple and can be carried out in both standing and sitting, but the error of reading the measuring ruler is large, which results in new moving rulers and inertial sensors. The factors influencing the results of Functional Reach Test are moving strategy, age, moving efficiency, goal orientation, single or double arms, human characteristics, number of experiments and others. In the future, combination of electromyogram and inertia sensor can be used to discuss the variety of muscles and the changes of muscle strength, and more influence factors for the test are needed to research.

Relationships between lower extremity strength and the multi-directional reach test in children aged 7 to 12 years.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the relationships between the Multi-Directional Reach Test (MDRT) and lower extremity strength in typical children. METHODS: The MDRT including forward, backward, leftward, and rightward directions was measured in 60 children aged between 7 and 12 years old with typical development. The lower extremity muscle groups were measured using a hand-held dynamometer. RESULTS: The reaching score in each direction had positive relationships with the strengths of several lower extremity muscle groups ( r = 0 . 26 to 0 . 52 , p < 0 . 05 ) . Only the strengths of the hip flexor and knee flexor muscles significantly correlated with the MDRT scores in all directions ( r = 0 . 26 to 0 . 50 , p < 0 . 05 ) . CONCLUSION: This study highlights the strength of the hip and knee flexor muscle groups as being important domain to control balance in all directions. These findings may be used for therapists in planning a balance program to improve the limits of stability.

Experimental Validation of Depth Cameras for the Parameterization of Functional Balance of Patients in Clinical Tests.

In clinical practice, patients' balance can be assessed using standard scales. Two of the most validated clinical tests for measuring balance are the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and the MultiDirectional Reach Test (MDRT). Nowadays, inertial sensors (IS) are employed for kinematic analysis of functional tests in the clinical setting, and have become an alternative to expensive, 3D optical motion capture systems. In daily clinical practice, however, IS-based setups are yet cumbersome and inconvenient to apply. Current depth cameras have the potential for such application, presenting many advantages as, for instance, being portable, low-cost and minimally-invasive. This paper aims at experimentally validating to what extent this technology can substitute IS for the parameterization and kinematic analysis of the TUG and the MDRT tests. Twenty healthy young adults were recruited as participants to perform five different balance tests while kinematic data from their movements were measured by both a depth camera and an inertial sensor placed on their trunk. The reliability of the camera's measurements is examined through the Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), whilst the Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r) is computed to evaluate the correlation between both sensor's measurements, revealing excellent reliability and strong correlations in most cases.