The Active Leg Raise Test

Background and Purpose: There are important reasons to provide hospitalized patients with opportunities to move while hospitalized. Yet, it is apparent that, other than actually attempting the task of standing up, there is no predictive test available that would help a hospital professional decide whether the patient has adequate ability to safely attempt standing. The purpose of this research report is to describe a novel test that clinicians can use to help predict whether a patient is anticipated to be capable of standing up with little or no assistance. Approach: Hospitalized patients were requested to lift each lower extremity, one at a time, for 5 seconds, above a minimum height. To determine the predictive ability of the test to identify the ability to stand, results were compared against the “gold standard” of whether the patients were able to stand successfully as part of a physical therapy evaluation performed after the leg raise test. Outcomes: The sensitivity of the test was 0.91 (95% CI = 0.84-0.96) and the specificity was 0.71 (95% CI = 0.48-0.89). The positive predictive value was 0.94 (95% CI = 0.88-0.98) and the negative predictive value was 0.60 (95% CI = 0.39-0.79). Discussion and Conclusion: This test is simple, short, and well suited to the rapid pace of clinical decision-making that health care professionals face on a daily basis. This test is useful in helping acute care professionals answer a clinical question they encounter often, “Is it safe for this patient to try to stand up?”