1 Before you use it
What it is
Walk 10 metres; time the middle 6 to exclude acceleration and deceleration. Report metres per second.
Comfortable and fast pace are different measures — record which one you did.
When to reach for it
Hip and knee osteoarthritis, and lumbar spinal canal stenosis — where walking is the complaint and walking speed is the outcome.
In stenosis, pair it with walking distance to symptom onset, which is the measure the patient actually cares about.
2 Giving it
Scoring
Time the middle 6 m of a 10 m walkway. Average two or three trials. Record footwear, walking aid, and comfortable versus fast pace.
What it doesn’t measure
Endurance, or the distance at which symptoms start. Those are separate and often more relevant.
3 Reading the score
Interpreting it
Gait speed is a broadly useful functional summary; interpret change against baseline.
Is the change real?
Student trap. Timing the full 10 metres. The first and last two are acceleration and braking — time the middle six.
Official source: neuropt.org. We don't host the form.
This is a learning tool. It does not diagnose patients and does not replace your clinical educator.
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CliniStudy is in beta. One tap is enough — it decides what gets fixed first.