Gait Abnormality Rating Scale Explained
| Gait Abnormality Rating Scale |
| Purpose: | evaluate individuals who are a risk to fall |
Gait Abnormality Rating Scale (GARS)[1] is a videotape-based analysis of 16 facets of human gait. It has been evaluated as a screening tool to identify patients at risk for injury from falls.[2] and has been used in remote gait evaluation.[3] A modified version was published in 1996.[4]
Scoring and assessment
The scale comprises three categories:[5]
Each item has a score range from 0 (goodfunction) to 3 (poor function).[6]
The total GARS score is the sum of the 16 individual facets, and the total score represents a rank ordering of risk for falling, based on the number of gait abnormalities recognized and the severity of any gait abnormality identified.
Notes and References
- Wolfson L, Whipple R, Amerman P, Tobin JN . Gait assessment in the elderly: a gait abnormality rating scale and its relation to falls . J Gerontol . 45 . 1 . M12–9 . January 1990 . 2295773 . 10.1093/geronj/45.1.m12. free .
- VanSwearingen JM, Paschal KA, Bonino P, Chen TW . Assessing recurrent fall risk of community-dwelling, frail older veterans using specific tests of mobility and the physical performance test of function . J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. . 53 . 6 . M457–64 . November 1998 . 9823750 . 10.1093/gerona/53a.6.m457. free .
- Russell TG, Jull GA, Wootton R . The diagnostic reliability of Internet-based observational kinematic gait analysis . J Telemed Telecare . Suppl 2 . Supplement 2. S48–51 . 9 . 2003 . 14728760 . 10.1258/135763303322596255 . 6910676 .
- VanSwearingen JM, Paschal KA, Bonino P, Yang JF . The modified Gait Abnormality Rating Scale for recognizing the risk of recurrent falls in community-dwelling elderly adults . Phys Ther . 76 . 9 . 994–1002 . September 1996 . 8790277 . 10.1093/ptj/76.9.994. free .
- Web site: GAIT ASSESSMENT RATING SCALE . https://web.archive.org/web/20120213152531/http://www.ohcponline.com/gars.html. 13 February 2012.
- Web site: Abnormal Gait .
