CHAPTER 17: COMMUNITY BALANCE AND MOBILITY SCALE (CB&M)

Description

The Community Balance and Mobility Scale (CB&M) is an activity-based outcome measure designed to evaluate the balance and mobility of individuals who are functioning at a high level yet have persistent balance problems (Knorr, Brouwer, & Garland, 2010). Initially validated among ambulatory patients after traumatic brain injury (TBI), it has also been able to capture the decline in balance that occurs with aging in healthy individuals, thus supporting its validity and sensitivity for use with a number of possible populations (Howe, Inness, & Wright, 2011). The CB&M can assess a wide range of advanced mobility and balance abilities in order to identify postural instability and evaluate change following intervention with respect to independence and considers such things as capacity for velocity and distance (Inness et al., 2011). As a 13-item scale, it measures performance of more challenging balance and mobility tasks that require speed, precision, accuracy, and sequencing of movement components thought to represent the underlying motor skills necessary for successful occupational performance which also includes bending, turning, or looking while walking and equilibrium reactions (Howe, Inness, Venturini, Williams, & Verrier, 2006; Takacs, Garland, Carpenter, & Hunt, 2014). Individual scores range from 0 to 5 and each item uses various unique scoring criteria relevant for that particular activity. The CB&M has a maximum total score of 96 (some items have left and right tested separately and 1 item carries a bonus point) where higher scores are indicative of better mobility and less fall risk. The assessment requires an amount of space, roughly 30 feet by 6 feet, for a track as well as some set up. The CB&M can take up to 1 hour to complete.

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