Purpose
The VAS is designed to measure perceived level of dizziness while sitting quietly and then following one minute of horizontal head movement at 1Hz.
Acronym
VAS
Area of Assessment
Bodily Functions
Vestibular
Sensation & Pain
Assessment Type
Patient Reported Outcomes
Administration Mode
Paper & Pencil
Cost
Free
- Oscillopsia (oVAS) and Perceived Disequilibrium (dVAS) (Herdman et al., 2007)
Oscillopsia/perception of visual blurring:
1) One end of the scale was descriptive anchor “No difficulty seeing clearly at all (normal)” and other end anchored with “The worst it could be."
2) Patients asked to rate their visual blurring first while sitting and then while walking.
Disequilibrium:
1) One end of the scale was anchored with “I feel perfectly steady,” and the other end was anchored with “The worst it could be.”
2) Patients were asked to rate their perception first while they were sitting and then while they were walking.
- The difference in symptom intensity between sitting and walking conditions is used as the oVAS or dVAS score.
- Head Movement VAS (Hall & Herdman, 2006):
1) Designed to measure perceived level of dizziness while sitting quietly and then following one minute of horizontal head movement at 1Hz.
2) Anchors on one end include the phrase “no dizziness at all” and on the other end include the phrase “as bad as it can be”.
- Difference in severity of dizziness before and after one minute of head turns calculated and reported as head movement VAS (HM VAS).
- A positive value indicates an increase in symptoms following head movement; negative value indicates a decrease in symptoms following head movement.
Number of Items
2
Two items for each scale: sitting, and while walking.
- Paper
- Pencil
- Ruler with centimeter markings
Required Training
Reading an Article/Manual
Instrument Reviewers
Initially reviewed by Jennifer Fay, PT, DPT, NCS and Tracy Rice, PT, MPH, NCS and the Vestibular EDGE task force of the Neurology Section of the APTA.
Body Structure
Head
ICF Domain
Activity
Measurement Domain
General Health
Motor
Sensory
Professional Association Recommendation
Recommendations for use of the instrument from the Neurology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Multiple Sclerosis Taskforce (MSEDGE), Parkinson’s Taskforce (PD EDGE), Spinal Cord Injury Taskforce (PD EDGE), Stroke Taskforce (StrokEDGE), Traumatic Brain Injury Taskforce (TBI EDGE), and Vestibular Taskforce (Vestibular EDGE) are listed below. These recommendations were developed by a panel of research and clinical experts using a modified Delphi process.
For detailed information about how recommendations were made, please visit: ANPT Outcome Measures Recommendations (EDGE)
Abbreviations:
HR
Highly Recommend
R
Recommend
LS / UR
Reasonable to use, but limited study in target group / Unable to Recommend
NR
Not Recommended
Recommendations based on level of care in which the assessment is taken:
Acute Care
Inpatient Rehabilitation
Skilled Nursing Facility
Outpatient
Rehabilitation
Home Health
MS EDGE
R
R
R
R
R
Recommendations based on EDSS Classification:
EDSS 0.0 – 3.5
EDSS 4.0 – 5.5
EDSS 6.0 – 7.5
EDSS 8.0 – 9.5
MS EDGE
R
R
R
R
Recommendations for entry-level physical therapy education and use in research:
Students should learn to administer this tool? (Y/N)
Students should be exposed to tool? (Y/N)
Appropriate for use in intervention research studies? (Y/N)
Is additional research warranted for this tool (Y/N)
MS EDGE
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Considerations
There is very limited data regarding validity of this measure as compared to other measures used in the vestibular population. However, it does provide a scale for patients to rate how severe their symptoms are.
Do you see an error or have a suggestion for this instrument summary? Please e-mail us!