Correlation of Strength and Dynamic Balance with Self-Reported Functional Ability among Elderly Population with Lower Extremity Dysfunctions.

Musculoskeletalconditions of lower extremities are the most common cause of impairments and disabilities in elder population. Withincreasing age, disability increases and also physical performancereduces. Limited studies have been found on elderly in Indian population identifying thecorrelation of physical performance like strength and dynamic balance withtheir functional ability. Studies have reported reduction in functional abilityin elderly after COVID lockdown. Few studies were found to report weak correlation betweenself-reported functional ability and objectively assessed physical performancewhereas some studies showed strong correlation between the two. Inconsistent study results and the gap in the knowledge about the perception of the functional ability andactual physical performance in elderly makes it necessary to find out the correlationof self-reported functional ability withobjective assessment of physical performance in elderly with lower limb dysfunctionsespecially in this COVID era. After the approval from the ethicalcommittee, this cross sectional study with purposive sampling will be carriedout. Participants with both unilateral and bilateral lower limb dysfunctionswill be included as per inclusion-exclusion criteria. Written informed consentwill be taken prior to commencement of the study from the patient. They will beinstructed to fill a self-reported Lower Extremity Functional Scale(LEFS) toassess their functional ability. For physical performance they will be assessedfor lower limb strength(using 30 Seconds Chair Stand Test) and dynamic balance(using8 Foot Up and Go Test). Data obtained from these tests will be analysed for correlationbetween functional ability (LEFS score) with strength(number of full chairstands) and dynamic balance( time in seconds) using Pearson’s correlationcoefficient. Extent of correlation(if any) will be carried out with regressionanalysis.