Body posture self-assessment tools: a scoping review

Abstract

Postural therapies use active treatment methods, such as self-correction, to control body segments. The evidence for this practice is established from the comparison of the self-perception of body posture before, during, and after postural education. A scoping review of tools to assess self-perception of body posture, besides encouraging research, may guide professionals while developing treatments. This scoping review aims to identify the existing tools that assess self-perception of body posture, describing their type, measurement properties (validity and reliability), and postural outcomes. The protocol of this review was registered in the Open Science Framework (OSF), DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/JGH8U. Studies developing and/or evaluating measurement properties and other study designs using self-perception of static body posture as an assessment method were included. In total, 359 studies were found, of which six were analyzed in this study. They presented two types of tool and their measurement properties were related to validity (n=6) and reliability (n=5). Five studies performed the joint analysis of validity and reliability (83%). Spine position, leg and foot posture, trunk and rib deformity, and postural awareness in general were the assessed postural outcomes. Of the six tools that assess self-perception of body posture, only the SSFS scale can be used in any population. To date, no study found a tool that assesses self-perception of body posture and considers all body segments.