This text based course is a transcript of the live webinar titled, "The Functional Test for the Hemiplegic Upper Extremity (FTHUE), presented by Veronica Rowe, MS, OTR/L.
Introduction
Today I want to share with you an assessment called the Functional Test for the Hemiplegic Upper Extremity. This is an assessment I used when working at Emory University doing research. It is a test that has been around for quite a while, but has fallen out of use. I do not really know why because as a clinician I thought it was a wonderful assessment. Currently I am doing some research and spreading the word on this assessment. Hopefully you will like it as much as I do.
Measuring Function After Neurological Insult
I would like you to think about how you measure function when you have a client with a neurological insult. Do you use a formal assessment or informal assessment? Is it standardized? Maybe you choose your assessments by time, according to the patient's recovery level (amount of movement), or according to your own time schedule (time to administer an evaluation). Is your evaluation facility or third party mandated? Is it chosen based on what you need to know? Do you perform an assessment because you are curious about a certain aspect of the client? Is price a factor? Is the experience or training needed to administer it a factor? Perhaps you are attending this session because you are looking for a good evaluation. An important point for any assessment that you choose, none of them are perfect. They all tend to have at least one or two flaws. Even the evaluation that I am going to show you today is not without its misgivings.
Types of Other Assessments
Box and Blocks
Figure 1. This figure shows the Box and Block Test.
This assessment only takes a few minutes and is a very simple test to administer. You ask the client to move wooden blocks from one side to the other, over a partition, for a minute. You ask them to do this for both sides and count the number transferred. It does not control for quality of arm movement.
