Activities of Daily Living Scale

What does the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Scale evaluate?

The Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Scale refers to many aspects of a person's ability to care for themself, and when one has a knee problem, there are likely to be issues with things like taking a bath, standing at a stove, going up and down stairs, tying shoes etcetera, and it is important to the medical team to know what level of support the patient needs.

Putting a score on these needs allows a very quick understanding by the whole support team, and improvement and deterioration can be easily followed. However, there are great differences in daily living needs in different countries. For example, in many countries people spend a lot of time seated on the floor rather than in chairs, transportation may be less available and shoes may not be so relevant. So the questions in the scale need to be relevant to the population in question.

• Quote from peer-reviewed paper:

  "....The ADL refers to activities oriented toward taking care of one’s own body.....Applying the right and proper assessment tools can help therapists achieve a suitable intervention plan...."

  Citation: Pashmdarfard M, Azad A. Assessment tools to evaluate Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) in older adults: A systematic review. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2020 Apr 13;34:33. doi: 10.34171/mjiri.34.33. PMID: 32617272; PMCID: PMC7320974.