The Get-Up-and-Go Test
by Baxter Transportation by Melina Meza A while back I shared with you a study done that looked at �transfer� ability as a predictor of longevity (see From Independence to True Longevity ). Today while reading �Putting Prevention into Practice,� AAFP Journal, Dec. 15th, 2012, Vol.86, #12, one of my medical journals, I came across a brief article on preventing falls in community-dwelling older adults. �Community-dwelling� means living at home, not in a care facility. As I read some of the recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), I came across a test I had not previously heard of: the timed Get-Up-and-Go test. According to the USPSTF, this is a way to assess the risk of falling by testing the ability of a person to "get up out of an armchair, walk 3m (10 feet), turn, walk back, and sit down again." It seems the average healthy adult older than 60 years can do this in an average of 10 seconds or less. As I think about in connection to the four skills...