Timed Up and Go Test, Berg Balance Test, and Six Minute Walk test are an essential part of any fall prevention continuing education course. These tests are an effective tools to assess fall risk, balance, mobility, and walking ability in the geriatric population. The TUG test (Timed Up and Go Test) can also be used with other diagnoses such as Parkinson’s, MS stroke recovery, and orthopedic dysfunction. Normative data is established for a variety of diagnoses. Gait speed below 1.0m/s is a strong indicator that a non-disabled older adult is at high risk for falls.1 The CDC Steadi Program indicates if the TUG test can be done in less than 12 seconds there, then the elderly person is at less risk for falls.2 This baseline assessment tool can be utilized in a comprehensive evaluation to establish a progressive exercise, balance, and aerobic program to enhance functional mobility in your elderly mobile client.
The Timed Up and Go Test measures the time to get up from a chair, walk at their normal pace to a line (3m), 10 ft away, turn, walk back to the chair and sit down again. It has good intratester and intertester reliability in the elderly population. Measuring gait speed in the elderly population is a good tool for developing programs to help prevent falls and improve community ambulation.
The Timed Up and Go Test is just one of the many assessment tools demonstrated in the comprehensive fall prevention continuing education course Balance and Falls in the Elderly Population. This video demonstration is part of an overall assessment and treatment program presented in this online course. Subscribe to our new online subscription program for physical therapist, physical therapy assistants and occupational therapist and gain access to this course and others in our extensive library of online continuing education courses.
Normative Data for Community Dwelling Adults can be viewed in this article:
Teresa M Steffen, Timothy A Hacker, Louise Mollinger, Age- and Gender-Related Test Performance in Community-Dwelling Elderly People: Six-Minute Walk Test, Berg Balance Scale, Timed Up & Go Test, and Gait Speeds, Physical Therapy, Volume 82, Issue 2, 1 February 2002, Pages 128–137 https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/82.2.128
1.Kyrdalen IL, Thingstad P, Sandvik L, Ormstad H. Associations between gait speed and well-known fall risk factors among community-dwelling older adults. Physiother Res Int. 2019 Jan;24(1):e1743. doi: 10.1002/pri.1743. Epub 2018 Sep 10. PMID: 30198603.
2. https://www.cdc.gov/steadi/pdf/TUG_test-print.pdf
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