Journal of Physiotherapy & Physical Rehabilitation

Is Scoring on Berg Balance Scale Affected By Items Being Performed By Sound Side or An Affected Side?

Abstract

Suvarna Ganvir and Maheshwari Harishchandre

Introduction: Berg Balance Scale is a commonly used outcome measure in patients with stroke. But certain items in the scale when performed on affected or unaffected side may score differently. Procedure: It was an observational study on 50 patients with stroke. Berg Balance scale was administered on these patients. 6 items in the scale were performed first with affected side BBS-A and then with unaffected side BBS-NA. Rest was performed with routine procedure. Results: Item wise and cumulative means were calculated and ICC was computed for each. Cumulative score was statistically significantly different between BBS A and BBS NA (ICC=0.23). Item wise also there were significant differences between the scores. Conclusion: Results of the study indicates that there is a difference in the scores obtained when some items are performed with affected or non-affected extremity.