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PURPOSE: A modified functional reach test in sitting, measuring maximal forward excursion of the fingertip in a reach task, could have usefulness in balance assessment, especially in early neurological rehabilitation for patients who are unable to stand. This study was designed to contribute to standardization of this assessment in quantifying sitting balance. Additionally, it was hypothesized that, compared to young healthy subjects, the distance of sitting reach would be less in a sample of elderly subjects. SUBJECTS: Healthy volunteers comprised two study groups: 15 young (20-35 yrs old) with a mean age of 22.5 [+ or -] 6.1 years, and 13 older ([is greater than] 65yrs old) with mean age 71.9 [+ or -] 6.1 years. Subjects with balance disturbance or history of neurologic injury or falling were excluded. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Following informed consent, subjects were weighed, measured, and seated in an armless chair with lower extremity position standardized. A ring with hanging metal pointer, sliding along a PVC pipe, affixed to the wall at shoulder height, was used to determine initial and final positions of functional reach on a meter stick. Standardized instructions to reach as far forward as could be maintained and one practice were followed by three measured trials. Differences between initial and final measurements were calculated as the reach distance for each trial and a mean of the three trials was calculated for each subject. A second set of trials, performed after a ten minute break, was measured to examine intra-rater (test-retest) reliability. ANALYSES: Descriptive statistics characterize performance of the two groups, with unpaired t-tests to examine the difference between the two groups. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) were used to examine test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The mean reach for trial 1 was 49.3 [+ or -] 7.3cm for young (range = 34.4 - 59.2) and 41.4 [+ or -] 13.0cm for older group (range = 22.5 - 61.8). The difference between young and older groups was significant for trial 1 data (p=.05) and trial 2 data (p=.02). There was a significant correlation between trials 1 and 2 for both young .787 (p=.0002) and older .804 (p=.0005). CONCLUSIONS: Age related decline in reach distance in sitting suggests potential use of this method in assessing dynamic sitting balance, with good test-retest reliability, but more study is needed., Fell DW, Bennett AC, Munson LA, von Tiesenhausen KG; Department of Physical Therapy, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL. [...]