Background

Older adult fitness testing

Physical ability testing of older adults is done for several reasons. It can be done for the same reasons as testing younger adults—to evaluate an exercise training program—or for other reasons. These other reasons include evaluating disease risk or diagnosis, pre- and post-surgery testing, or evaluating frailty and/or the ability to live independently. For example, testing walking speed will assist with a sarcopenia or frailty diagnosis.

Many of these tests are also commonly used in special populations. For example, the six minute walk test (6MWT) is validated in patients with pulmonary disease and is also commonly used in research in cancer patients and survivors.

Class activity

Activity 1: 30 second chair stand test

Equipment: chair without arms, stopwatch

Participant: everyone who is able to do the movement without limitation or restriction

1. Put a chair against the wall.
2. The participant starts in a sitting position in the chair.
3. Instruct the participant to start the test, and at the same time start the stopwatch.
4. For 30 seconds, the participant comes to a full stand and sits back down. Count the number of times the person stands. At the end of 30 seconds, if the person is at least halfway to a stand count it as a stand.
5. Use table 6.16 to compare yourself to 60-64 year old.

Activity 2: Timed up and go (8’ version)

Equipment: chair without arms, stopwatch, tape measure

Participant: everyone who is able to do the movement without limitation or restriction

1. The participant starts seated on a chair
2. The participant stands up, walks around a cone placed 8’ away, and returns to a seated position.
3. Start the stopwatch as soon as the person attempts to stand, and stop it as soon as they sit.
4. Look up your results in Table 12.3

Activity 3: 10M walk with and without carry

Equipment: stopwatch, tape measure, various small hand weights

Participant: everyone who is able to do the movement without limitation or restriction

There are three options for this test, and we are going to do all three. Usually the test is conducted at a “comfortable” pace and either a “comfortable” pace with a weight or an accelerated pace. Mark out a 10M course, plus 2M on each side for acceleration and deceleration (total course = 14M). Have the subject do all three conditions one time each:

1) Comfortable pace: Instruct the subject to walk at a comfortable walking pace. Give the command that they have somewhere to be, but are not in a hurry.

2) Accelerated pace: Instruct the subject to walk at an accelerated pace. Give the command that they have a bus to catch and cannot be late, but do not want to run to the bus stop.

3) Walk with carry: Instruct the subject to repeat the comfortable walking pace, but this time they are carrying 10% of their body weight.

Use the Bohannon 1997 (25’ test) table to interpret your results.

Activity 4: Handgrip strength

Equipment: handgrip dynamometer

Participant: everyone who is able to do the movement without limitation or restriction

1. Adjust the dynamometer so that it is comfortable for the participant. Make sure the dial marker is set to “0.”
2. One at a time, test both hands of the participant. While standing, keep your arm at your side with the shoulder slightly abducted**.
3. Squeeze the dynamometer as hard as the participant is able to squeeze it. After the participant releases the dynamometer, read the dial marker.
4. Administer the test three times with a one minute rest in between attempts. Record the highest attempt and compare to table 6.2.

**When testing older adults, the test is typically conducted with the elbow at a 90° angle. However, the norms Table 6.2 relates to measurements with the elbow extended so that is the method we will use in this lab.

Activity 5: Arm curl test

Equipment: 5lb and 8lb hand weights, stopwatch, chair without arms

Participant: everyone who is able to do the movement without limitation or restriction

1. Subject sits in a chair, with a 5 lb (women) or 8 lb (men) weight in their dominant hand in a neural grip. Their feet are on the floor, and the upper arm must remain in contact with the upper body
2. Count how many complete repetitions the subject can perform in 30 sec
3. Compare your results to Table 6.15

Activity 5: Six minute walk test (6MWT)

Equipment: cones, tape measurer, stopwatch

Participant: everyone who is able to do the movement without limitation or restriction

Set-up: Ideally, a 25 by 5 yard rectangle course or a 20-30 yard straight path (like in a hallway, if that is all that is available) with marks every 5 yards is set up for this test.

1. The subject walks around the course for six minutes, and the number of yards competed to the nearest 5 yards is recorded. The test should be done individually and not walked with another person. Instruct the person that this is a walking (not running) test, they should walk at a comfortable pace that they can walk for six minutes, breaks are permitted, and notify them each time one minute has passed (“There are five minutes remaining in this test” etc.) as well as a fifteen second warning prior to the end of the test (“in 15 seconds I will tell you to stop, and please stay where you are until I come to you.”)
2. Compare your results to the provided table

Notes for this class: Each gray tile in the big gym is 1 foot. For the sake of time in this lab, you may have multiple students on the course but stagger your start time so that you are not walking with each other, and for test accuracy please try to not compete with each other

Additional notes for testing older adults: No warm-ups prior to starting the test. If the person usually walks with a cane or walker, they will use it for this test. Breaks are permitted, but the clock keeps running. If the person is unsteady, walk behind them and try to not influence their pace.