The fastest of three trials is recommended for Timed Up & Go testing of functional mobility in an outpatient geriatric setting

The fastest of three trials is recommended for Timed Up & Go testing of functional mobility in an outpatient geriatric setting Bloch, Mette; Metropol; mettebloch@hotmail.com Tange Kristensen Morten; Department of Physiotherapy and Orthopaedic Surgery. Background/Introduction: The Timed Up & Go (TUG) test is used worldwide to examine functional mobility in elderly people and different patientgroups, but different procedures are commonly used. Originally, the TUG was described with a practice trial followed by a timed trial, but a recent study in patients with hip fracture showed that three timed trials are needed to produce the best performance. Purpose: To examine if the fastest of three timed TUG trials producesbetter (faster) results than the recording of the second trial in elderly people when following an outpatient geriatric rehabilitation programme. Material and Methods: A total of 32 elderly people (20 women), at a mean (SD) age of 83.4 (8.6) years were included. All subjects performed three timed TUG trials as fast as safely possible with their normal walking aid (if using). In addition, 30 of the 32 subjects performed the Chair Stand Test (CST) (number of sit to stands in 30 seconds, using an armchair if not able to perform without). Repeated measures with Bonferoni corrections for mass significance was used to evaluate differences between TUG trials, T-Tests to evaluate differences between groups,and Pearson’s Correlation coefficient to evaluate association between variables. Results: Sixty-six percent of subjects presented their best at the third trial, followed by the second (28%), and the first (6%) trial. The best of the three timed trials was significantly (P<0.001) better (faster) than the second timed trial (mean (SD) of 20.1(11.5) versus 21.2 (11.8) seconds), with up to 5.5 seconds in difference between the two recordings. Subjects using walking aids (n=10) were the oldest (P=0.057, mean age of 87.7 versus 81.5 years), and performed worse (P=0.033, 26.3 versus 17.3seconds) when using the best of the three TUG trials. Also, this score was significantly correlated with age (r=0.434, P=0.013) and the modified CST with the use of armchair (n=15, r=-0.600,P=0.018), while no significant correlation was seen in relation to the CST (n=15, r=-0.411, P=0.128). Conclusion: We recommend that the fastest of three timed TUG trials is used instead of the second trial when the TUG test is performed among elderly people in an outpatient geriatric setting. In addition, we found a significant correlation between the modified CST, age and the TUG test when using the fastest of three TUG trials. References: Bohannon RW. Reference values for the timed up and go test:a descriptive meta-analysis. J Geriatr Phys Ther.2006;29:64-82. Kristensen MT, Ekdahl C, Kehlet H, Bandholm T. How many trials are needed to achieve performance stability of the Timed Up & Go test in patients Go test in patients with hip fracture? Arch Phys MedRehabil.2010;91:885-9