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RehabMeasures Instrument

Timed 25-Foot Walk

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Purpose

The T25FW is a clinical tool that evaluates patients for quantitative mobility and leg function performance test in a timed, 25 foot walk.

Link to Instrument

Acronym T25FW

Area of Assessment

Gait

Assessment Type

Performance Measure

Administration Mode

Paper & Pencil

Cost

Free

Diagnosis/Conditions

  • Multiple Sclerosis

Key Descriptions

  • Scoring for the Timed 25-Foot Walk is the average of two trials.
  • The patient is directed to walk 25 feet quickly?and safely as possible from one marked end to the other.
  • The time is calculated from the initiation of the patient instructed to begin, until the patient has reached the 25-foot mark.
  • The second trial is immediately administered again by having the patient walk the same distance. Patients may use assistive devices while doing this task.

Number of Items

1

Equipment Required

  • Watch
  • Paper and pencil

Time to Administer

5 minutes

5 minutes or less

Required Training

No Training

Age Ranges

Adult

18 - 64

years

Elderly adult

65 +

years

Instrument Reviewers

Initially reviewed by the MS EDGE task force of the Neurology Section of the APTA in 2011. Updated by Yen-Yen Gee, MMus, Rebecca Schuck, and the Rehabilitation Measures Team in August 2013.

Body Part

Lower Extremity

ICF Domain

Body Function

Measurement Domain

Motor

Professional Association Recommendation

Recommendations for use of the instrument from the Neurology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Multiple Sclerosis Taskforce (MSEDGE), Parkinson’s Taskforce (PD EDGE), Spinal Cord Injury Taskforce (PD EDGE), Stroke Taskforce (StrokEDGE), Traumatic Brain Injury Taskforce (TBI EDGE), and Vestibular Taskforce (Vestibular EDGE) are listed below. These recommendations were developed by a panel of research and clinical experts using a modified Delphi process.

For detailed information about how recommendations were made, please visit: 

Abbreviations:

 

HR

Highly Recommend

R

Recommend

LS / UR

Reasonable to use, but limited study in target group  / Unable to Recommend

NR

Not Recommended

Recommendations based on level of care in which the assessment is taken:

 

Acute Care

Inpatient Rehabilitation

Skilled Nursing Facility

Outpatient

Rehabilitation

Home Health

MS EDGE

HR

HR

HR

HR

HR

Recommendations based on EDSS Classification:

 

EDSS 0.0 – 3.5

EDSS 4.0 – 5.5

EDSS 6.0 – 7.5

EDSS 8.0 – 9.5

MS EDGE

HR

HR

HR

NR

Recommendations for entry-level physical therapy education and use in research:

 

Students should learn to administer this tool? (Y/N)

Students should be exposed to tool? (Y/N)

Appropriate for use in intervention research studies? (Y/N)

Is additional research warranted for this tool (Y/N)

MS EDGE

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Considerations

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Multiple Sclerosis

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Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)

Multiple Sclerosis:

(Phan-Ba et al., 2011; n = 141 patients with a diagnosis of relapsing-remitting or progressive MS and 104 age-and sex-matched health volunteers; sex = 68.8 female MS patients and 63.5 female healthy controls; mean age for MS patients = 40.0 (12.4) years; mean age for healthy controls = 35.4 (13.0) years; EDSS = 2.5 (0-5.5) for MS patients; 37.6% of patients had limited ambulation; 31.2% of patients had restricted ambulation)

  • Overall Coefficient of Variation (CV) = 45%
  • Limited CV = 46%
  • Restricted CV = 46%

Normative Data

Multiple Sclerosis: 

(Phan-Ba et al., 2011)

  • For all MS patients, median T25FW scores = 4.4 (2.9 - 20.7)
  • For healthy controls, median T25FW scores = 3.7 (2.8 - 5.2)
  • 63 MS patients had an EDSS score of 0-2.0
  • 38 MS patients had an EDSS score of 2.5-3.5
  • 40 MS patients had an EDSS score of 4.0-5.5

Test/Retest Reliability

Multiple Sclerosis: 

(Phan-Ba et al., 2011)

  • Excellent test-retest reliability for healthy controls (ICC = 0.880)

Interrater/Intrarater Reliability

Multiple Sclerosis: 

(Phan-Ba et al., 2011)

  • Excellent interrater reliability for subgroup of 50 controls (ICC = 0.884)
  • Excellent interrater reliability for 40 MS patients (ICC = 0.942)

Construct Validity

Multiple Sclerosis:

(Phan-Ba et al., 2011)

  • Excellent correlation with EDSS (r = 0.6686; P <.0001)
  • Excellent correlation with T100MW (r = 0.9227; P <.0001)
  • For patients with limited ambulation, there was an excellent correlation with walking distance (= - 0.7121; n = 53 MS patients)
  • For patients with restricted ambulation, there was an excellent correlation with walking distance (r = - 0.6861; n = 44 MS patients)

Bibliography

Hotchkiss, A., Fisher, A., et al. (2004). "Convergent and predictive validity of three scales related to falls in the elderly." Am J Occup Ther 58(1): 100-103. 

Kaufman, M., Moyer, D., et al. (2000). "The significant change for the Timed 25-foot Walk in the multiple sclerosis functional composite." Multiple sclerosis 6(4): 286-290. 

Kopke, S. and Meyer, G. (2006). "The Tinetti test: Babylon in geriatric assessment." Z Gerontol Geriatr 39(4): 288-291. 

Phan-Ba, R., Pace, A., et al. (2011). "Comparison of the timed 25-foot and the 100-meter walk as performance measures in multiple sclerosis." Neurorehabilitation and neural repair 25(7): 672-679.