BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
Development and Performance of PROWalk: a functional mobility person-reported outcome measure based on the PROMIS® adult physical function item bank
Sutton B Richmond 1
Laura Jacobs 1
Caleb Kumar 2
Yvonne Rumsey 1
Carole A Tucker 3
Lars Oddsson 1,4
1. RxFunction Inc, Eden Prarie, United States
2. Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health Department of Global Health and Population, Boston, United States
3. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Department of Physical Therapy, Galveston, United States
4. University of Minnesota Twin Cities Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Minneapolis, United States
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Abstract
Introduction: Functional mobility, or the capacity to move safely and independently, can be evaluated using performance-based physiological tests, observational assessments, or self-report tools. This study sought to develop the PROWalk™, a PROMIS-based patient-reported outcome measure of perceived gait and balance challenges, and evaluated its performance relative to the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) in individuals with sensory peripheral neuropathy. Methods: PROWalk was developed with expert clinician input using selected items from the PROMIS item bank. It was administered via telehealth to participants with lower-extremity peripheral neuropathy (N = 51; age 76 ± 4 years; 4 female) who were prescribed a wearable sensory prosthesis, alongside the PSFS, at baseline and again after six weeks. Results: Both measures displayed significant increases (i.e., improvements) over time with large effect sizes (PROWalk: rrb = −0.878; PSFS: rrb = −0.993), strong temporal correlations (PROWalk: rho = 0.684; PSFS: rho = 0.458), and upward linear trends for each instrument between baseline and six weeks. When normalized, the measures showed no bias, large limits of agreement, and moderate convergent validity (rho = 0.582, p < 0.001). Discussion: Compared with broader PROMIS Physical Function short forms, PROWalk targets mobility-specific activities relevant to gait and balance. It demonstrated significant improvements in perceived functional mobility over time and strong temporal stability, supporting its use for standardized group-level comparisons. PROWalk appears to be a valid, telehealth-compatible measure for capturing self-reported functional mobility in individuals with sensory neuropathy and may address limitations of more individualized assessment tools.
Summary
Keywords
functional mobility, PROMIS®, PROWalk, PSFS, telehealth, Walkasins, Wearable Sensory Prosthesis
Received
27 August 2025
Accepted
04 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Richmond, Jacobs, Kumar, Rumsey, Tucker and Oddsson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Lars Oddsson
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.