Reliability of modified functional reach test in children with cerebral palsy aged 6–18 years: An observational cross-sectional study

• Sitting static and dynamic balance is important function among children with cerebral palsy. • The modified functional reach test is easy and clinically applicable test proven in adult neurological conditions. • Children with cerebral palsy need reliable test to evaluate sitting balance. • The intra-rater reliability will help clinicians as well as children with cerebral palsy for better prognosis of function and rehabilitation. Balance in sitting plays an important role among children with cerebral palsy. The modified functional reach test(mFRT) is reliable tool to evaluate both static and dynamic sitting balance among children but the reliability of mFRT has not been proven among cerebral palsy children. To find the reliability of mFRT(forward reach, left lateral and right lateral reach), cerebral palsy children. An observational cross-sectional study on 90 children with cerebral palsy aged 6-to-18 years was randomly selected. The children reached forward and at both the lateral directions. Three successive trials of forward reach and lateral reaches with the child sitting with feet shoulder width apart were performed and the mean of 3 trials was calculated. Reliability of mFRT test in all the directions (forward, left and right lateral) was found out. Reliability of mFRT test was found out in all the directions. The values of reach in age groups were compared. The genders were compared with the mFRT. GMFCS levels were compared with mFRT. BMI was correlated with mFRT. This study found excellent intra rater reliability(test-retest reliability) of mFRT in children with cerebral palsy aged 6-18years, in all directions; forward reach test r=0.996, left lateral reach test r=0.974, right lateral reach test r = 0.988. This test can be used to evaluate the dynamic sitting balance of children with cerebral palsy of age 6-18 years in both genders. The mFRT has excellent intra rater-reliability among cerebral palsy children of 6-18 years.