Summary

What it measures:

• Functional assessment of lower extremity dynamic postural control, strength, flexibility, and proprioception
• Can identify movement deficits and predict risk of future injuries for at-risk individuals^1-11
• The modified SEBT (mSEBT) has participants reach in 3 directions instead of 8: anterior (ANT), posteromedial (PM), and posterolateral (PL)¹²

Target Population:

• Sports population, especially for patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction¹³
• Patients with knee osteoarthritis¹⁴
• Patients with femoral acetabular impingement¹⁵
• Patients with ankle sprain^16-25

Taskforce Recommendations

A 2023 clinical practice guideline from the Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy, Hip Pain and Movement Dysfunction Associated With Nonarthritic Hip Joint Pain: Revision, recommends that clinicians should include SEBT as part of the physical performance measures in the examination.²⁶

A 2021 clinical practice guideline from the Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy, Ankle Stability and Movement Coordination Impairments: Lateral Ankle Ligament Sprains Revision, recommends that clinicians include SEBT as part of the physical impairment measures in the examination and as part of the functional performance outcome measures.²⁷

Clinical Insights

SEBT is a reliable, responsive, and clinically relevant tool often used in the return to sport phase of rehabilitation. It is a simple yet challenging test to perform, and it can be time-consuming.

The commonly used Y Balance Test (YBT) was derived from the SEBT to improve test procedure standardization.^28,29 Although the mSEBT and YBT tests are similar, the score of a particular reaching direction should not be used interchangeably between these 2 tests.^12,29,30

More research is needed to establish and to assess the validity, responsiveness, and predictive validity of SEBT and mSEBT in a variety of healthy and pathologic populations.