Brazilian version of the Trunk Impairment Scale: a reliability study in post-stroke subjects

Abstract

Trunk control - which is a basic motor ability to perform many functional tasks -is disrupted in most patients who have suffered a stroke. There are few foreign references and none in Portuguese dealing with the quantitative assessment of trunk control. The aim of this study was to translate, verify intra- and inter-examiner reliability, validity and internal consistency of the Brazilian version of the Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS). Eighteen hemiparetic, post-stroke volunteers were evaluated by means of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment Scale, Functional Independence Measure, Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and Functional Ambulation Classification; TIS was apllied by three experienced physical therapists; retest was carried out 48 hours later. Data analysis showed moderate intra-rater and an excellent inter-rater reliability (p<0.05), though low internal consistency (0.45). The only scale found to correlate with TIS was BBS (r=0.491, p=0.038), comparison to the others having shown no statistical significance. The TIS Brazilian version thus proved a valid and effective measure of trunk deficits, having fulfilled reliability criteria; it is easy to apply, and may be said to be reproducible by neurology physical therapists.