The Berg Balance Scale scores 14 everyday balance tasks, from standing up out of a chair to standing on one leg. Each task scores 0 to 4, for a total from 0 to 56; in older adults, a total under 45 flags a higher risk of falling. Score each item to get the total, see what each band means, and record the result with the free template.
Berg Balance Scale result template
FreeBERG BALANCE SCALE RESULT Date: [Date] Patient: [Name or ID, age] Reason for testing: [Fall, fracture, stroke, Parkinson disease, dizziness, or other] Test: [Baseline, interim, or discharge; test number] Tester: [Name, credentials] TEST CONDITIONS Chairs: [Seat heights; one with armrests and one without, or a bed and a chair] Step or stool: [Height in inches or cm] Item 9 object: [Slipper or shoe] Usual walking aid: [None, cane, walker, or wheelchair; set aside for the test, yes or no] Footwear: [Own shoes, nonslip socks, or bare feet] Guarding: [Gait belt on or off; items where hands-on help was needed] On the day: [Pain, fatigue, dizziness, or medicine timing that may affect balance] ITEM SCORES 1. Sitting to standing: [0 to 4] 2. Standing unsupported: [0 to 4] 3. Sitting unsupported: [0 to 4, or full points carried from item 2] 4. Standing to sitting: [0 to 4] 5. Transfers: [0 to 4] 6. Standing with eyes closed: [0 to 4] 7. Standing with feet together: [0 to 4] 8. Reaching forward: [0 to 4, and the distance reached] 9. Retrieving an object from the floor: [0 to 4] 10. Turning to look behind: [0 to 4] 11. Turning 360 degrees: [0 to 4, and seconds each way] 12. Placing alternate foot on a stool: [0 to 4, and seconds for 8 steps] 13. Standing with one foot in front: [0 to 4, tandem or foot ahead] 14. Standing on one foot: [0 to 4, seconds held, and the leg tested] TOTAL AND CHANGE Total: [0 to 56] Band: [0 to 20 wheelchair bound, 21 to 40 walking with assistance, or 41 to 56 independent] Fall risk cutoff: [Under 45, or the cutoff used for this condition; above or below it] Previous totals: [Dates and scores] Change: [Points since the last test, and whether it passes the minimal detectable change] BALANCE OBSERVATIONS Hardest tasks: [Items that scored lowest, and why] Strategies: [Pushing up with hands, wide base, stepping to recover, stiff trunk, or none] Safety: [Losses of balance; items needing supervision or help] Patient report: [Fear of falling, dizziness, pain, falls in the past year] ASSESSMENT Summary: [What the score, the change, and the observations show together] PLAN Goals: [Target score or task, with a date] Treatment: [Balance training, strength, gait training, turning practice, or home program] Walking aid and home: [Aid recommended, supervision needed, home safety changes] Retest: [Date or interval, with the same chairs, step, and conditions]
Every item as published. The total and what it means update with each answer; nothing you choose leaves this page.
Please demonstrate each task and/or give instructions as written. When scoring, please record the lowest response category that applies for each item. In most items, the subject is asked to maintain a given position for specific time. Progressively more points are deducted if the time or distance requirements are not met, if the subject’s performance warrants supervision, or if the subject touches an external support or receives assistance from the examiner. Subjects should understand that they must maintain their balance while attempting the tasks. The choices of which leg to stand on or how far to reach are left to the subject. Poor judgment will adversely influence the performance and the scoring.
Use it for
Two chairs of standard height, one with armrests and one without, a stopwatch, a ruler, a step or stool, and a slipper or shoe. The test takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Avoid: Swapping the slipper for a pen or a tissue box. A lower or taller object changes how far the person has to bend.
Show each task or read the instructions as written, then score what the person does, item by item in order.
Avoid: Holding the person through a task and still giving full points. Hands-on help means the score the item gives for help, usually 1 or 0.
Each of the 14 items scores 0 to 4; add them for a total from 0 to 56.
Avoid: Rounding up for effort. A near miss on the time or distance scores the lower category.
Read the total against the band, the fall risk cutoff, and the person’s falls in the past year.
Avoid: Calling someone safe because they’re in the independent band. A total of 41 to 44 is independent on the form but under the fall risk cutoff.
Test at the start and the end of an episode of care, and in between when it’s long, under the same conditions each time.
The Berg tests balance in set tasks while standing still or moving in place. It doesn’t test walking, reactions to a slip or push, or balance while doing two things at once.
Avoid: Discharging a high scorer as having no balance problem. A ceiling score can hide trouble with walking and turning.
Each one follows the recording template. Use them to judge how much to write.
Inpatient rehab unit, discharge test 4 weeks after admission, in the therapy gym
Chair with armrests and chair without, both with 46 cm seats. 8-inch step. Her own slipper for item 9. Usual aid a four-wheeled walker, set aside for the test. Own lace-up shoes. Gait belt on; no hands-on help needed today. Right groin pain 2 out of 10 after her morning walk.
Today, items 1 to 14: 3, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 2, 3, 2, 1. Reached 15 cm. Turned a full circle in 6 seconds each way. 8 steps on the step in 27 seconds. Stood on the right, operated leg for under 2 seconds. At admission: 2, 4, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 1, 1.
Total 44, independent band, up from 34 at admission, in the walking with assistance band. A rise of 10 points, more than the 7 needed to be real from a start of 25 to 34. Still 1 point under the 45 cutoff for fall risk.
Lowest items: standing on the right leg, tandem stance, and turning. Pushes up with her hands to stand and uses them to sit. Stepped sideways to recover once in the foot-ahead stance; no other loss of balance. Says she feels “wobbly” turning to the right. One fall in the past year: the one that broke her hip, tripping on a rug at night.
76-year-old woman, 4 weeks after a nail for a right intertrochanteric fracture, weight-bearing as tolerated. Balance has improved by a real margin, and she is safe to walk at home with her walker and someone in the house. The score still flags fall risk, with right hip weakness showing in the single-leg and step tasks.
Home on Thursday; her daughter will stay the first week. Walker outdoors, at night, and indoors until the home therapist clears a cane. Home physical therapy twice a week for 4 weeks: right hip abductor strength, step-ups, and tandem and single-leg practice. Rugs out and a night light on the way to the bathroom. Bone health review with her family doctor after the fragility fracture. Retest the Berg at the end of home therapy with an 8-inch step; goal 48 or more.
Outpatient neurologic physical therapy, first visit after two falls
Clinic chairs with and without armrests, 47 cm seats. 9-inch stool. A shoe for item 9. No walking aid. Own walking shoes. Gait belt on; no hands-on help needed. Tested in the “on” state, about an hour after his morning carbidopa-levodopa.
Items 1 to 14: 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2. Reached 20 cm. Full turns: 6 seconds to the left in 9 small steps, 7 seconds to the right in 11. 8 steps on the stool in 23 seconds. Stood on his left leg for 4 seconds, his right for 3.
Total 48, independent band, and above the general cutoff of 45. At or under the 52 that studies in Parkinson’s disease have used to flag fall risk. First Berg on record; the minimal detectable change in parkinsonism is about 5 points.
Turning drives the score. Hesitated before each full turn, then turned stiffly as one piece in small steps, slower to the right; no freezing. Less trunk rotation looking over the right shoulder. Could not hold full tandem; held a foot-ahead stance for 30 seconds. Two falls in 6 months, both turning at the kitchen counter late in the afternoon.
68-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease for 6 years. Balance standing still is good; turning and narrow-base tasks are not. Two falls while turning and a score in the range studied as risky in Parkinson’s disease mean a raised fall risk, despite the independent band. Both falls came late in the day, when his medicine may be wearing off.
Physical therapy twice a week for 8 weeks: turning in wide arcs with counted steps, large-amplitude stepping, and tandem and single-leg practice. Daily home turning drill at the counter. Letter to his neurologist about the afternoon falls and possible wearing off. Kitchen items he uses most moved within reach without turning. Retest the Berg in 8 weeks, in the “on” state at the same time of day; a rise of 5 or more is real change. Add the Mini-BESTest if he nears the top of the scale.
The Berg is done without walking aids. If the person can’t do an item without one, the item scores 0, and the aid goes in the note.
The form asks for the lowest category that applies. Supervision, a touch of the wall, or a hold a few seconds short all bring the item down.
A total of 41 to 44 is independent on the form but under the 45 cutoff. In Parkinson’s disease, 52 or less still flags fall risk.
A rise of 3 points from 30 is within measurement noise. From a start of 25 to 34, it takes about 7 points to be sure.
A lower chair, a shorter step, or a pen in place of the slipper changes the scores. Record the set-up and keep it the same.
Vero Scribe records the Berg result in your template from the session, with the patient’s consent, or from your dictation: each item score, the total and the change, what you saw, and the plan. You review and edit every line, then copy it into your record. Vero works in 60+ languages.
The Berg Balance Scale is a 14-item test of balance, published by Katherine Berg and colleagues in 1989. A clinician watches the person do everyday tasks, such as standing up, reaching forward, turning a full circle, and standing on one leg, and scores each from 0 to 4. It’s one of the most widely used balance tests in physical therapy and rehab.
Score each of the 14 items from 0 to 4, choosing the lowest description that applies, and add them for a total from 0 to 56. Points come off for missing the time or distance, needing supervision, touching a support, or needing help. The test is done without walking aids; an item the person can’t do without their aid scores 0.
In older adults, a total under 45 is the most widely used cutoff for fall risk. The form’s bands are 0 to 20 wheelchair bound, 21 to 40 walking with assistance, and 41 to 56 independent, often labeled high, medium, and low fall risk. Some conditions have higher cutoffs, such as 52 or less in Parkinson’s disease, so weigh the score with the person’s falls history.
Healthy adults living at home average about 55 in their 60s, 53 to 54 in their 70s, and 50 to 53 in their 80s. The maximum is 56. Many active older adults score at or near the top, which is why a harder test can be more useful for them.
In older adults it depends on the starting score: about 5 points from 0 to 24, 7 points from 25 to 34, 5 points from 35 to 44, and 4 points from 45 to 56. In parkinsonism it’s about 5 points, and in acute stroke about 7. A smaller change may be measurement noise.
The Berg scores 14 balance tasks and takes 15 to 20 minutes. The Timed Up and Go times one sequence of standing up, walking 3 meters, turning, and sitting down, and takes a minute or two. The Berg shows which balance tasks are hard; the TUG adds walking. Many therapists use both.
Physical and occupational therapists give it most often, and nurses, physicians, and other trained staff can too. No formal training is required, though raters in the same service should check that they score alike. It takes 15 to 20 minutes with two chairs, a stopwatch, a ruler, a step or stool, and a slipper or shoe.
Yes. The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab lists it as free and in the public domain, with no training required; the only cost is the equipment. The recording template on this page is free to copy or download too.
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For a low Berg: falls history, medications, standing blood pressure, vision, home, and the plan.
Evaluations and visits that tie test results to function.
Every tool, by area, with what its scores mean.
Vero records scores, findings, and plans in the templates you choose, so you review instead of type.
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