Physical Mobility Scale
Learn about the Physical Mobility Scale and use our template to assess older adults and their ability to perform certain movements!
Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.
What is the Physical Mobility Scale?
The Physical Mobility Scale is a nifty physical assessment tool that was developed by physical therapists to aid them in assessing geriatric patients to help them identify any physical impairments these patients might have.
By gauging such patients and identifying impairments, these therapists can develop specific treatment plans focusing on helping them recover, improve, and maintain their mobility. These plans will also help these patients regain their independence if possible.
The great thing about this physical assessment is it allows physical therapists to examine a patient comprehensively. This tool covers a good range of mobility levels:
- Being bedridden or chair-bound
- Wheelchair mobile
- Ambulant but requires the assistance of two people
- Ambulant but requires the assistance of one person
- Ambulant, but someone who can help them must be on standby
- Independent
Also, the scale comprises sections specific to different physical movements that the patient being assessed must do. These movements include the following:
- Moving from a supine position to lying on the side (left and right)
- Moving from a supine position to sitting down
- Maintaining balance while seated
- Moving from a seated position to standing
- Moving from a standing position to sitting down
- Transferring from a bed to a wheelchair (for those who use wheelchairs) or a chair (for those who can walk)
- Ambulation (walking or pushing a wheelchair)
Printable Physical Mobility Scale PDF
Improve physical health through our free Physical Mobility Scale
How to use the Physical Mobility Scale:
To conduct an assessment using the Physical Mobility Scale, the healthcare professional must prepare a space with enough room to walk around without obstructions getting in the way. Also, this room must have a bed, chair, and wheelchair (in case the patient being assessed can’t walk). If it’s being conducted as part of a house call, these should also be present.
Once everything is ready, the healthcare professional will have the patient perform several movements. Here’s how it usually goes:
- Supine to Side-lying: Instruct the patient to lie down supine, then have them roll to the left and assume a side-lying position. Have them assume a supine position again, then roll to the right and assume a side-lying position. Scores for rolling to the right and left are separate.
- Supine to Sitting: Instruct the patient to lie down supine, then have them sit up at the edge of a bed.
- Sitting Balance: Instruct the patient to sit on the edge of a bed and plant their feet on the floor. Tell them to turn and look over their shoulder (must be done on both sides), then have them reach down and touch the floor. They must maintain balance while doing both actions.
- Sitting to Standing: Instruct the patient to sit on the edge of a bed and then stand up without using their hands for support.
- Standing to Sitting: Instruct the patient to stand next to the edge of a bed, then have them sit down without using their hands for support.
- Standing Balance: Instruct the patient to stand up and stay standing up with or without support. Have them turn and look over their shoulder (must be done on both sides), put an object (anything works), and have them pick it up, and then have them stand on their left or right leg for as long as they can within 20 seconds.
- Transfers: Instruct the patient to sit on the edge of the bed, then have them stand up and transfer themselves to a wheelchair (if they require wheelchairs to move) or a chair (if they can walk).
- Ambulation: Instruct the patient to stand up (if they can walk) or have them sit in a wheelchair (if they require wheelchairs). Have them walk or push their wheelchair for a while. Make sure they move at least 50 feet.
That’s it! While patients are performing each type of movement, the healthcare professional must observe them well and score them accordingly.
Later, we’ll show you what this looks like through our printable Physical Mobility Scale template.
How do you score and interpret the findings of the Physical Mobility Scale?
Each action has its section and set of six answer choices. They are arranged according to how many points they’re worth (from 0 to 5).
Here’s an example of the Standing to Sitting component:
- 0 = Unable to weight bear
- 1 = Gets to sitting with full assistance from a therapist, describe: ___________
- 2 = Can initiate flexion, requires help to complete descent, holds arms of chair, weight evenly/unevenly distributed
- 3 = Poorly controls descent, stand-by assistance required, holds arms of chair, weight evenly/unevenly distributed
- 4 = Controls descent, holds arms of the chair, weight evenly distributed
- 5 = Independent and does not use upper limbs, weight evenly distributed
Healthcare professionals simply need to select the appropriate answer based on their patients' observations.
Once all actions have been scored, the professional should add up all the scores. The maximum score is 45, and the lowest score possible is 0. To interpret the results, please refer to these designations:
- 0 to 18 = severe mobility impairment
- 19 to 27 = moderate mobility impairment
- 28 to 36 = mild mobility impairment
- 37 to 45 = independent
Once the results have been recorded, the next step should be determining what goes into a patient’s physical therapy plan. It should be based on the results. Physical therapists may also conduct other tests to assess a patient’s risk of falling.
Physical Mobility Scale example:
Now that you know how to administer the Physical Mobility Scale and how to score it, it’s time to acquaint you with our template for it. Our template takes the original scale but expands specific sections to accommodate the parts requiring descriptions. We also added fillable fields to indicate the scores for each part.
Another feature we added is an Additional Comments box. Physical therapists can use this to detail observations and discuss their plans for the patient.
Here it is:
If you like what you see and believe this is an excellent way to assess older adults' mobility and balancing capabilities, feel free to download our free Physical Mobility Scale PDF template!
Download our free Physical Mobility Scale PDF
When would be the best time to use the Physical Mobility Scale template?
It can be used during house calls.
If you’re a physical therapist handling geriatric patients, there might come a time when you’ll handle someone who can’t bring themselves to your clinic or hospital, meaning you have to visit them for house calls.
This is a great time to conduct an assessment using the Physical Mobility Scale because it can help physical therapists and geriatricians determine the challenges their patients face at home due to impaired mobility. These will be taken into account when they create or adjust care plans.
It can be used in homes for the elderly/long-term care facilities.
Those who work in long-term care facilities that house geriatrics can benefit from using the Physical Mobility Scale from time to time. Since they’re tasked to care for such patients, using the Physical Mobility Scale can help them identify their patients' existing mobility problems and provide personalized care based on the results.
It can also help determine potential problems that may arise down the line, allowing professionals to establish interventions and precautions to lower those risks.
It can be used in clinical settings as a monitoring tool.
If you’re a physical therapist in a clinic, you can conduct assessments using the Physical Mobility Scale to check on a patient’s progress.
The template can serve as a monitoring tool to help you determine if a treatment plan you’ve implemented before is effective. You can find out if your treatment plan works if your patient’s scores are higher than when you first assessed them using this tool. If their scores are still low, especially if they’re lower than before, then adjusting their care plan should be your next course of action, and see if the changes work.
Commonly asked questions
This will depend on the patient you’re assessing, but it’s possible to accomplish the scale within 20 minutes. Don’t be surprised if it takes longer, though.
Yes. For consistency, it would be best to conduct other balance tests.
It would be best to conduct this every time a patient returns for a check-up or if it’s time for a scheduled house call. This isn’t a one-time, big-time assessment. As we mentioned earlier, this is an effective monitoring tool, so using it routinely will ensure you are on top of your geriatric patient’s mobility status.
