Patient-reported outcome measure
UEFS Calculator
Upper Extremity Function Scale
The Upper Extremity Function Scale is an 8-item patient-reported questionnaire in which the patient rates the difficulty of eight everyday activities — sleeping, writing, opening jars, picking up small objects, driving, opening a door, carrying a milk jug and washing dishes — from 1 (no problem) to 10 (cannot do it at all), for a total of 8 to 80 where a higher score means more difficulty.
What the UEFS score means
UEFS totals run from 8 to 80, where a lower score is better. No severity bands are shown because no cut-offs have been published that we can verify — read the total against the source studies and your own protocol, as described below.
How the score is calculated
Stated in full so the calculation can be independently checked, and reproduced by hand if needed.
Each of eight activities is rated from 1 (no problem) to 10 (a major problem; the patient cannot do it at all). The eight ratings are added, so the total runs from 8 to 80, and a higher total means more difficulty. There is no weighting and no subscale. The scale was designed to measure the effect of upper extremity disorders on physical tasks and to follow change over time, including worsening with workplace exposure and response to treatment.
Missing data
No missing-data rule has been published, so a total is shown only when all eight activities are rated.
Instrument profile
- Developer
- Glenn Pransky, Michael Feuerstein, Jonathan Himmelstein, Jeffrey N. Katz and Mary Vickers-Lahti
- Institution
- United States
- First published
- 1997
- Custodian
- No custodian known to us
- Items
- 8
- Response format
- Ten-point scale, 1 (no problem) to 10 (major problem)
- Score range
- 8 to 80
- Direction
- Lower score = better
- Recall period
- Current difficulty because of symptoms
- Completion time
- About 2 minutes
- Age range
- Working-age adults
- Regions
- Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist & Hand
- Conditions
- Upper limb musculoskeletal disorder, Work-related upper extremity disorder
- Procedures
- Upper limb rehabilitation
- Languages
- English
- Validity
- Developed to measure functional outcomes in work-related upper extremity disorders. Because it has eight items, it is quick to complete but coarse, and it does not distinguish the shoulder from the elbow, wrist or hand.
- Responsiveness
- Intended for tracking change in function with treatment or workplace exposure. No minimal clinically important difference is shown here because we could not verify a published value.
- Floor effect
- Likely in people with mild problems, who will rate most activities 1.
When to use the UEFS
Well suited to
- A brief check of upper limb function in work-related upper extremity disorders, when a long questionnaire is impractical.
- Following the same worker’s function over a course of treatment or after a change in workplace exposure.
Limitations and poor fits
- A primary outcome in a study of a specific joint: the QuickDASH, SPADI or ASES have fuller evidence and published thresholds.
- Distinguishing which region of the arm is affected — the items are general.
- Judging whether an individual has improved meaningfully: no minimal clinically important difference is shown here.
UEFS compared with other instruments
Instruments measuring a related construct, with the practical difference between them.
| Instrument | Items | Range | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuickDASH | 11 | 0–100 | The QuickDASH is an 11-item shortened form of the DASH that measures physical function and symptoms across the whole upper limb on a single 0 to 100 scale, where a higher score means greater disability. |
| SPADI | 13 | 0–100 | The SPADI is a 13-item patient-reported questionnaire that measures shoulder pain and disability over the past week on two subscales — 5 pain items and 8 disability items — each rated 0–10 and transformed to a 0–100% score in which a higher score means more pain and greater disability. |
| ASES Score | 11 | 0–100 | The ASES score is a patient-reported shoulder index running from 0 to 100 in which a single 0–10 pain rating supplies 50 points and ten activities of daily living rated 0–3 supply the other 50, so that 100 represents a pain-free shoulder with no functional difficulty. |
| KJOC | 10 | 0–100 | The KJOC Shoulder and Elbow Score is a 10-item patient-reported questionnaire for overhead athletes — throwers, tennis players, swimmers — in which each item is rated 0 to 10 and the sum out of 100 describes how well the arm lets them compete, with a higher score meaning better function. |
Copyright and permitted use
Published openly because it is the question every clinician and researcher asks before using an instrument, and almost nobody answers it.
The scale is a short list of everyday activities published in 1997 and reproduced freely on clinical forms. We have not asked the developers for written permission, so we cannot say it is free of copyright; if a rights holder objects, the item wording will be removed and the page reduced to a profile.
References
- Pransky G, Feuerstein M, Himmelstein J, Katz JN, Vickers-Lahti M. Measuring functional outcomes in work-related upper extremity disorders. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 1997.doi:10.1097/00043764-199712000-00014
Editorial status
Not yet reviewedQueued for clinical review by Sam Tuffun, PT, DPT. Sign-off has not taken place — this is a placeholder assignment, not a completed review.