Reliability of the timed 10-metre walk test during inpatient rehabilitation in ambulatory adults with traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Objective: To determine the test–re-test reliability of the timed 10-metre walk test (10MWT) among adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) enrolled in inpatient rehabilitation.

Design: Prospective reliability study using a correlational design.

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation unit of a rehabilitation hospital.

Participants: Twenty-three consecutive adults with acute TBI, mean age = 35.87, SD = 14.2 years (range = 18–64 years). This study tested 22 males and one female, who were 15.6 (SD = 9.1) days in inpatient rehabilitation at time of gait testing.

Method: Repeated, timed 10-metre gait test within a 1-hour testing period with six trials at self-selected pace (SSP) and six trials at fastest pace (FP), recorded to the nearest 1/10 second with a hand-held stopwatch.

Result: Gait speed measurements for SSP and FP were shown to have excellent test–re-test reliability (Intra Class Correlation coefficient = 0.964 and 0.961, respectively).

Conclusions: These results add to the literature that the timed 10MWT is a reliable measure of gait velocity in adults with acute TBI for both FP and SSP.

• Gait
• inpatient rehabilitation
• reliability
• timed 10-metre walk test
• traumatic brain injury

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants with traumatic brain injury for their willingness to take part in the study. We would like to gratefully acknowledge Jennifer Christenbury, physical therapy assistant, Carolinas Rehabilitation, Department of Therapies, for assistance with the consent process.