BioPsychoSocial Assessment Tools for the Elderly - Assessment Summary Sheet Test: Functional Reach Test (FRT) Year: 1990 Domain: Biological Assessment Tool Category: Mobility Variations/Translations: Variations include the Lateral Reach Test (Brauer, Burns, & Galley, 1999). Setting: Clinical Method of Delivery: Administered by a professional health care provider Description: The FRT involves positioning the participant next to a wall with their right arm raised 90°, adjacent and parallel to a yardstick. With the participant’s hand in a fist and feet not lifting or moving, the maximum distance a participant is able to reach forward from an initial upright posture to maximal leaning posture is recorded. The position of the knuckle of the third finger is recorded. The FRT displaces the participant’s centre of gravity and gives a measure of margin of stability and postural control (Duncan, Weiner, Chandler, & Studenski, 1990). Scoring/Interpretation: A reach of less than or equal to 15 cm was found to be predictive of a fall in older adults (Duncan et al., 1990). Time to Administer: 1-2 minutes Availability: Directions for administering the FRT are available online at https://www.highmarkblueshield.com/pdf_file/ger_binder/function_reach_test.pdf. Software: N/A Website: N/A Quantitative/Qualitative: Quantitative Validity (Quantitative): Moderate to high correlation has been reported between the FRT and other clinical measures of stability, including the Duke hierarchical mobility skills protocol (Spearman coefficient = 0.38), a portion of the Functional Indepedence Measure (Spearman coefficient = 0.37), and centre of pressure excursion (COPE) (Pearson r = 0.71), indicating good concurrent validity (Duncan, Weiner, Chandler, & Studenski, 1990; Weiner et al., 1993). The FRT was also found to be sufficiently sensitive to change (responsiveness index = 0.97) (Weiner et al., 1993). Reliability (Quantitative): The FRT has high test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.89) (Weiner et al., 1992). References: Duncan, P. W., Weiner, D. K., Chandler, J., & Studenski, S. (1990). Functional reach: A new clinical measure of balance. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 45, 192-197. Duncan. P. W., Studenski, S., Chandler, J., & Prescott, B. (1992). Functional reach: predictive validity in a sample of elderly male veterans. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 47, 93-98. Weiner, D.K., Bongiorni, D.R., Studenski, S.A., Duncan, P.W., & Kochersberger, G.G. (1993). Does functional reach improve with rehabilitation? Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 74(8), 796-800. Weiner, D.K., Duncan, P.W., Chandler, J., & Studenski, S.A. (1992). Functional reach: a marker of physical frailty. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 40(3), 203-7. Comments: N/A