Unilateral Stance: Prognostic Value (#1302)

Course overview

As the most widely-used balance tool, single limb stance is popular because it is a quick, easy, quantifiable, valid, and reliable test that is readily portable across a range of populations and treatment settings. This course briefly overviews these attributes before shifting gears and honing in on a specific area of investigation: its predictive validity. The ability of an individual's unilateral stance time to predict or anticipate a current reality or future outcome is a subject of much interest and investigation. Here, this research is presented for the adult (often greater than 60 years) population and explores such things as "cut off" scores (i.e.stance times) that are associated with balance impairment, gait difficulty, impaired stair performance, falls, ADL dependence, frailty, and mortality. Some research is tailored to specific diagnoses and conditions and these are presented separately in this Module. Interested in the association between short stance time and cognitive function? Working heavily with a neurologic population and wondering what correlations between unilateral stance time and specific areas of function and/or discharge disposition exist? How about the orthopedic or athlete populations and seeking to get a handle on future injury risk? This course presents the available evidence to meet the needs of a wide-range of therapists and practice settings.