OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance in the functional reach test (FR) and lateral reach test (LR) among a sample of healthy individuals aged 20 to 87 years and to verify the influence of gender, age, height, body weight, arm length and foot length. METHOD: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on 98 people of both genders living in the city of São Paulo and other places in the State of São Paulo. The volunteers were measured and then underwent FR and LR. RESULTS: All the variables had an influence on FR, except arm length (p=0.057), body weight (p=0.746) and the support base used at the time of assessment (p=0.384). The variables exerting greatest influence were the individual's gender (p=0.001), age (p<0.001) and height (p=0.004). This analysis showed that women had less anterior and lateral functional reach than men. There was a substantial positive correlation (r=0.696) between the left and right LR findings. FR had a moderate positive correlation of 0.405 with the left LR and a substantial positive correlation of 0.614 with the right LR. For LR, the height, weight, foot length and arm length variables were not significant determinants. CONCLUSION: The measurement patterns for FR and LR that are used in the international literature may not be the same for Brazilians. The main measurements that influence the tests are age, gender and height.
elderly people; posture; balance; aging; rehabilitation
