1 Before you use it
What it is
Stand from a standard chair, walk three metres, turn, walk back, sit down. Time it.
One number, no equipment beyond a chair and a stopwatch, and it captures transfers, gait, turning and sitting in one task.
When to reach for it
Knee and hip osteoarthritis, post-arthroplasty, and any older adult on the list. Ninety seconds including the practice.
Patterns it serves · 2
2 Giving it
Scoring
Record the time in seconds. One practice trial, then time the second. Record footwear and any walking aid — both change the number.
What it doesn’t measure
Strength, balance in isolation, or pain. It is a composite — which is its strength for screening and its weakness for diagnosis.
Repeat it
3 Reading the score
Interpreting it
**Cut-points around 12–14 seconds are commonly cited for increased falls risk in older adults.
In an MSK caseload the absolute time matters less than the change, and less than how they do it — watch the sit-to-stand strategy and the turn, which are where a painful knee or hip shows itself.
Is the change real?
On placement
Knee OA, 74 years old. TUG 13.8 s at intake, 11.2 s at 8 weeks, same footwear, no aid, one practice trial then timed.
Read it as 2.6 seconds faster, under the 3.0-second MDC (measured in rehabilitation populations) — inside measurement error. The conventional 12–14 s falls-risk band it crossed is not a verified cut-point in this library.
Do in an MSK caseload the how matters more than the seconds — the sit-to-stand strategy and the turn are where the painful knee shows. Describe those, and re-time at 12 weeks.
Student trap. Recording the time and not the strategy. How they stand and how they turn is the clinical information.
Official source: cdc.gov. 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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