The Spinal Cord Injury Functional Ambulation Inventory (SCI-FAI)

The development and testing of an observational gait assessment instrument, the Spinal Cord Injury Functional Ambulation Inventory (SCI-FAI) is descri bed. To assess validity and reliability, 22 subjects with incomplete spinal cord injury were scored by four raters. Raters scored each subject three t imes, once live (LS) and twice from videotaped records (VS1, VS2), A modera te-good negative correlation (r=-0.742 and -0.700, for VS1 and VS2, respect ively) was found between the gait score and time required to walk a demarca ted path. Inter-rater reliability was moderate-good for the live score and the videotaped records (ICC = 0.703, 0.800, and 0.840, respectively). Intra -rater reliability was good (ICC = 0.903, 0.960, 0.942, and 0.850 for Rater s 1-4, respectively). To assess sensitivity, another group of 19 subjects w ith SCI were assessed prior to and following participation in an intensive walking program. A moderate correlation was found between change in gait sc ore and change in lower extremity strength (Pearson r=0.58), These results indicate that the SCI-FAI is a reliable, valid and sensitive measure of wal king ability in individuals with spinal cord injury, In addition, the resul ts suggest that gait analysis using this instrument is equally reliable whe ther the observation is performed live or from videotaped records.