The timed ‘Up & Go’ is dependent on chair type

Abstract

Introduction: The timed ‘Up & Go’ (TUG) is a performance test identifying problems in functional mobility. More knowledge on how the type of chair used in uences test results is needed.

Objective: To investigate inter-rater agreement on the time score and to assess if chair type used in uenced the performance of the test.

Setting: (1) Inter-rater agreement investigation on the time score was carried out with elderly individuals living in a retirement home (n = 31). (2) Four types of chairs were tested on elderly individuals in three different health care centres (n = 100).

Results: The two observers were close in timing (mean difference = 0.04 s). From a reference chair the median time for TUG was 15.7 s compared with 16.9 s from a chair with a low seat (p < 0.001). It was signi cantly more dif cult to stand up from a chair without armrests (p < 0.001), and from the lowest chair (p < 0.001), which was also the only chair dif cult to sit down on (p = 0.02).

Conclusion: The inter-rater agreement of the time scoring of the TUG has been con rmed. Test performance is dependent on chair type; chairs with armrests and a seating height of 44-47 cm should be used. Clinicians must follow standard procedures and equipment when using the test or else risk invalidating test findings.