Postural instability (HP_0002172) is a tendency to fall or the inability to keep oneself from falling; imbalance. The retropulsion test is widely regarded as the gold standard to evaluate postural instability, Use of the retropulsion test includes a rapid balance perturbation in the backward direction, and the number of balance correcting steps (or total absence thereof) is used to rate the degree of postural instability. Healthy subjects correct such perturbations with either one or two large steps, or without taking any steps, hinging rapidly at the hips while swinging the arms forward as a counterweight. In patients with balance impairment, balance correcting steps are often too small, forcing patients to take more than two steps. Taking three or more steps is generally considered to be abnormal, and taking more than five steps is regarded as being clearly abnormal. Markedly affected patients continue to step backward without ever regaining their balance and must be caught by the examiner (this would be called true retropulsion). Even more severely affected patients fail to correct entirely, and fall backward like a pushed toy soldier, without taking any corrective steps. Also known as: Balance impairment.