An Overview About Figure-of-Eight Walk Test in Neurological Disorders: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Introduction: The figure-of-eight walk test (F8WT) assesses gait on a curved path, reflecting everyday walking complexity. Despite recognized validity among elderly individuals, its application in neurological disorders remains inadequately explored. This scoping review summarizes evidence regarding F8WT use, validity, and clinical applicability among individuals with neurological disorders.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases. After reading the full text of the selected studies and applying predefined inclusion criteria, seven studies, involving participants with multiple sclerosis (n = 3 studies), Parkinson's disease (n = 2 studies), and stroke (n = 2 studies), were included based on pertinence and relevance to the topic.

Results: F8WT demonstrated strong reliability and validity across various neurological populations and correlated significantly with established measures of gait, balance, and disease severity. Preliminary evidence supports its ability to discriminate individuals at increased fall risk and detect subtle motor performance changes.

Discussion: The F8WT emerges as a valuable tool, capturing multifaceted gait impairments often missed by linear walking assessments. Sensitive to subtle functional changes, it is suitable for tracking disease progression and intervention efficacy.

Conclusions: F8WT is reliable and clinically relevant, effectively identifying subtle, complex walking impairments in neurological disorders.

Keywords: F8WT; Parkinson’s disease; assessment; multiple sclerosis; stroke; walking.

Figure 1

Study identification and screening process.

Figure 2

Forest plot of test–retest reliability for the F8WT. Dots indicate ICC; horizontal bars represent 95% confidence intervals. The dashed vertical line at ICC = 0.90 marks the conventional threshold for excellent reliability [24,25,26,28,29,30].