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New Survey For Lower-Limb Rehab

Rehab experts use various tools to measure progress in patients after an acute injury. Questionnaires or surveys of questions are often used to assess change. This is a quick and easy way to record results when function can't be
measured directly.

This study is a report of researchers' efforts to develop a task-specific survey for the lower limb (leg).

Activities of daily living (ADLs) and recreation are the focus of the questions. The survey tool is called the Lower-Limb Tasks Questionnaire (LLTQ).

The authors report the steps they took through five separate studies to design and test the LLTQ. They discuss some of the difficulties creating a reliable and valid survey. For example, the questions must focus only on function.

It's easy to include questions about symptoms such as pain and swelling. But this crosses over into measuring impairment, not function.

Some questions may be good for athletes but are not suitable for elderly adults. And tasks vary depending upon what stage the patient is at in the rehab process after an acute injury.

The authors present the statistical approaches used and results of all five studies. They found that both ADLs and recreational activities fell under the broader category of function. Both measure different aspects of lower limb function. Either or both can be used to show change in a patient's function after treatment. And this series of questions can be used for different disorders and anatomic locations affected in the lower limb.

The high levels of reliability and responsiveness make it useful tool for clinical and research settings.

References: Peter J. McNair, PhD, et al. The Lower-Limb Tasks Questionnaire: An Assessment of Validity, Reliability, Responsiveness, and Minimal Important Differences. In Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. August 2007. Vol. 88. No. 8. Pp. 993-1001.

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