The Community Balance and Mobility Scale (CB&M) is a specialized assessment used by healthcare professionals like physical therapists to measure advanced balance and mobility skills. Its primary goal is to evaluate a person’s ability to safely navigate challenging environments they might encounter in their community, outside the controlled setting of their home. This tool provides objective data on high-level motor skills necessary for full participation in daily life.
Purpose and Target Population
The CB&M was developed to assess balance and mobility skills often not captured by other clinical tests. Many traditional balance scales were created for older adults with more significant impairments, meaning some individuals can achieve a perfect score on those tests while still having deficits that put them at risk in real-world situations. The CB&M addresses this gap by including tasks that challenge stability, coordination, and the ability to perform movements that require speed and precision.
This assessment is intended for individuals who can walk independently but continue to experience balance problems that affect their community engagement. It is frequently used for people recovering from a traumatic brain injury (TBI), as these individuals often have persistent balance issues even after regaining basic walking ability. Other populations that benefit from this assessment include those who have had a stroke, individuals with cerebral palsy, and some people with Parkinson’s disease. The scale is useful for quantifying a patient’s readiness to return to complex activities.
Components of the Assessment
The CB&M consists of 13 specific tasks that assess a person’s dynamic balance and mobility. The test requires minimal equipment, involving a stopwatch, a marked eight-meter track, a set of stairs, a beanbag, and a visual target. This simplicity allows it to be administered in most clinical settings, and the assessment takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete.
The tasks are dynamic and mirror real-world challenges rather than focusing on static balance. The components challenge a person’s ability to adapt to changes in terrain and direction. Some examples of the 13 tasks include:
- Walking along a track while turning the head to keep eyes on a fixed target
- Picking a beanbag up from the floor without losing balance
- Stepping over a small obstacle to simulate navigating curbs or items on the ground
- Stepping quickly up and down from a step
- Running with an abrupt stop
- Descending a flight of stairs
Scoring and Interpretation
Each of the 13 tasks is scored on a 6-point scale from 0 to 5, where 0 indicates an inability to perform the task and 5 represents successful completion. Since six tasks are performed on both the right and left sides, there are 19 scored components. This results in a maximum possible score of 96, with a higher total score reflecting better balance and mobility.
Therapists use the score to identify specific deficits and establish a baseline for treatment. The score helps determine if a person has the skills for safe community mobility without assistance. Research has established that a change of 8 points or more indicates a true change in the patient’s ability, not just a measurement error.
As a patient undergoes rehabilitation, subsequent CB&M assessments can show if interventions are improving their high-level balance. The scores can also be compared to age-referenced data from healthy individuals to help set realistic recovery goals. This information allows therapists to tailor treatment plans and provide patients with clear feedback on their progress.