earticle

영어

The 6-min walk test (6MWT) are a measurement tool to evaluate a distance that subjects, including commonly elderly and patients with cardiopulmonary and neurological impairments, walks for 6 minutes. Outcome of the 6MWT indicates subject’s level of aerobic fitness to move their body for a longer time, and can be variously utilized to compare the effects of pre- and post-intervention for patients with cardiopulmonary diseases, predict the morbidity and mortality in some diseases, and evaluate physical endurance level of patients with neurological impairments such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, and incomplete ambulatory spinal cord injury. Previous studies have been recognized that the use of a straight 20-m or 30-m walk routes during the 6MWT is probably the best option to achieve the optimal outcome of the measurement. In clinical setting, the 10-min walk test (10MWT) has been frequently used to assess the walking velocity of numerous patients with orthopedic and neurological patients, with simple procedure and easy application; however, the walking velocity from the 10MWT can be overestimated as compared to that of the 6MWT. Accordingly, keep in mind that precaution needs to interpret the findings of the 10MWT for patients with neurological impairment such as stroke. In general, most of the walk tests for identifying walking performance of post-stroke hemiparesis are performed in the walk routes indoor, which contribute to misunderstanding patients’ capacity to walk indoor and outdoor because of the lack of environmental actuality. Therefore, research exploration should be focused on the technical goal of using the 6MWT to reflect the walk performance in various environments afterward rather than report the findings taken under simple environment controlled by their conveniences.