ADL
Also written as: ADL — Activity of Daily Living
Abbreviation for activity of daily living, a functional benchmark used across rehabilitation documentation to measure self-care capacity.
Full Definition
ADL is the standard abbreviation for 'activity of daily living' and appears widely in rehabilitation assessments, discharge summaries, and outcome reports. The plural form ADLs is more common in prose, while ADL functions as a modifier in compound terms such as 'ADL training', 'ADL assessment', and 'ADL retraining program'. Editors should confirm consistency between singular and plural usage within a document and ensure ADL is not used interchangeably with IADL (instrumental activity of daily living) without clinical justification. The abbreviation is so well established in rehabilitation contexts that it rarely requires expansion after first use.
Usage
Usage note: Do not use 'ADL's' (with apostrophe) for the plural. Use 'ADLs'. Confirm whether the document refers to basic or instrumental ADLs.
In Context
- "ADL retraining commenced on day three of the inpatient admission." — Physiotherapy treatment record
- "The patient scored 14/20 on the ADL subscale of the rehabilitation outcome tool." — Outcome measurement report