Over 50 and worried about falling? This quick test used by physical therapists reveals your risk—here’s how to try it and improve your balance and mobility

Worried about how mobile you are? Scared of losing your balance and falling? There’s a simple clinical test that’s used by physical therapists that you can try at home.

The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test measures how quickly you can get out of a chair, walk three meters, turn around, and then walk back to the chair and sit down.

But it’s not just about speed. The TUG test assesses a bunch of other important physical skills, from functional mobility—how well you move in everyday tasks—and balance, to gait (your walking pattern), lower-body strength, coordination and turning ability.

“The TUG is a physical performance test I use to assess mobility and locomotor performance in my elderly clients with balance issues,” Dr Ashley Katzenback, physical therapist and owner of Cape Concierge Physical Therapy, tells Fit&Well.

In other words, how well and efficiently someone can move from one place to another.

She says it’s a useful test to determine the risk of falls. “More specifically, it helps me to assess my client’s ability to perform sequential motor tasks—a series of movements in a certain order to achieve a goal—such as walking and turning.”

So why is mobility so important, especially as we age? “Mobility is what keeps you out of a nursing home,” explains Katzenback. ”Getting up and down from a chair, which the TUG tests, is a critical activity of daily living.”

Read on to find out how to do the TUG test at home, what your results mean, and how to improve your mobility.

How to do the Timed Up and Go test

For this test you’ll need:

• A chair with arms
• Tape measure
• Tape or marker
• Stopwatch

You can have one trial run, which isn’t timed, before doing the real thing.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Put a piece of tape or another clear marker on the floor three meters away from the chair, you need to be able to easily see it.
2. Sit with your spine pushed against the back of the armchair. The chair needs to be stable enough that it doesn’t move when you go from sitting to standing.
3. Get ready with the stopwatch in your hand.
4. As soon as you press start, stand up and walk to the line on the floor at a normal pace, then turn around and walk back to the chair and sit down.
5. Stop timing when you are sitting down again with your back resting against the chair.

What your result means

“If you are under 60, you should be able to complete it in under 10 seconds,” says Katzenback. “Between the ages of 60 and 79, you should be able to complete it in under 12 seconds. If it takes a person over 14 seconds to complete, this indicates a high risk of falling.”

How to improve mobility

If you failed the TUG test or were slower than you hoped, Katzenback has a few things you can do to change that.

“Building up your calf and glute strength will allow you to get out of the chair faster,” she says. “Improving hip extension (the movement of straightening the hip joint) and ankle mobility will allow you to walk faster.

“If you don’t do regular mobility work, you are more likely to fall, which increases your fear of falling. This fear then keeps you sedentary and the ripple effect just grows.”

Try this simple ankle mobility workout, this full-body strength workout for over 50s, or these four mobility moves from Olympian Sally Gunnell to help improve your TUG test.

Nothing beats in-person help, though. To find a physical therapist near you, search the American Physical Therapy Association’s directory.