The validity and reliability of the Incremental Shuttle Walk Test and Six-minute Walk Test compared to an Incremental Cycle Test for people who have had a mild-to-moderate stroke

To determine the construct validity and test re-test reliability of the Six-minute Walk Test (6MWT) and Incremental Shuttle Walk Test (ISWT) in the sub-acute recovery phase following mild-to-moderate severity stroke. 40 stroke patients (mean age: 68.27 years, SD: 13.48) of median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score 1.2 (range: 0 to 8) within six months of stroke. Each participant completed one Incremental Cycle Test (ICT) followed by two ISWT and two 6MWT in a randomised order. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficients were used to determine the validity and Bland Altman plots were used to determine the test re-test reliability. The Incremental Cycle Test (ICT) was positively correlated with the ISWT (r=0.59, 95% confidence intervals 0.35 to 0.76, P=0.001) and the 6MWT (0.55, 0.35 to 0.71, P