Gait Abnormality Rating Scale

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

The scale comprises three categories:[5]

Each item has a score range from 0 (good function) 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.

References

  1. ^ Wolfson L, Whipple R, Amerman P, Tobin JN (January 1990). "Gait assessment in the elderly: a gait abnormality rating scale and its relation to falls". J Gerontol 45 (1): M12–9. PMID 2295773. 
  2. ^ VanSwearingen JM, Paschal KA, Bonino P, Chen TW (November 1998). "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. PMID 9823750. 
  3. ^ Russell TG, Jull GA, Wootton R (2003). "The diagnostic reliability of Internet-based observational kinematic gait analysis". J Telemed Telecare. 9 Suppl 2 (Supplement 2): S48–51. doi:10.1258/135763303322596255. PMID 14728760. 
  4. ^ VanSwearingen JM, Paschal KA, Bonino P, Yang JF (September 1996). "The modified Gait Abnormality Rating Scale for recognizing the risk of recurrent falls in community-dwelling elderly adults". Phys Ther 76 (9): 994–1002. PMID 8790277. http://www.ptjournal.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=8790277. 
  5. ^ "GAIT ASSESSMENT RATING SCALE". http://www.ohcponline.com/gars.html. 
  6. ^ "Abnormal Gait". http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40002327/.