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The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is a quick, single-task screen of functional mobility and fall risk: a patient stands from a chair, walks 3 meters, turns, walks back, and sits down, while a clinician times the whole sequence with a stopwatch. This page covers how to administer it correctly, the commonly cited time cutoffs, and where it fits relative to other fall-risk tools used in a hospital setting. For the program layer around this tool — building intervention bundles by risk tier and choosing among the available screening instruments — see CASRAI’s fall prevention program design guide, which this page complements.
Origin: a timed adaptation of the “Get-Up-and-Go” test
The TUG was published by Podsiadlo and Richardson in 1991 as a timed, more objective version of Mathias and colleagues’ earlier 1986 “Get-Up-and-Go” test, which had scored the same movement sequence on a subjective 5-point observational scale rather than a stopwatch. Adding a hard time measurement made the result reproducible across raters and settings, which is a large part of why the TUG spread widely as a rapid mobility screen in geriatric and rehabilitation practice.
How to administer it
Equipment needed: a standard armchair (roughly 46 cm / 18-inch seat height), a stopwatch, and a marked or taped point 3 meters (about 10 feet) from the chair.
- The patient sits upright in the chair with their back against the seat back, using their usual footwear and any walking aid they normally use (cane, walker).
- On the word “go,” the patient stands up, walks at a normal, safe pace to the 3-meter mark, turns, walks back to the chair, and sits back down.
- Timing starts on “go” and stops the instant the patient is seated again.
- A single practice trial before the timed attempt is standard practice, since patients commonly improve simply from familiarity with the task.
Interpreting the time
Published cutoffs vary by population and study rather than converging on one universal number:
- Under 10 seconds: generally considered normal mobility with low fall risk in healthy older adults.
- 10–20 seconds: commonly reported as normal for frailer individuals or those with minor balance issues, indicating low-to-moderate risk.
- Roughly 12–14 seconds and above: the threshold most frequently cited in the validation literature as signaling increased fall risk in community-dwelling older adults.
- 20–30 seconds or more: generally read as high risk, warranting further assessment or an assistive device.
CDC’s STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries) fall-prevention toolkit includes the TUG as one of its three core functional assessments, alongside the 30-second chair stand and the 4-stage balance test, rather than treating any single one of the three as sufficient on its own. Confirm the specific cutoff and companion assessments your organization has adopted in policy before citing a number in documentation.
Reliability and limitations
The TUG has good test-retest reliability when administered consistently, but its ability to predict future falls on its own is weaker and less consistent than its reliability would suggest: published sensitivity for predicting falls is often modest, with a meaningful false-negative rate. It is also subject to ceiling and floor effects — it is less sensitive to changes in very high-functioning, active older adults and in very frail, bedridden patients — and results vary with chair height, armrest presence, and whether the patient is instructed to walk at a comfortable versus fast pace. For these reasons, most current guidance treats the TUG as a quick screening input to combine with other assessments (a fall-history review, medication review, or a more detailed balance test like the Berg Balance Scale) rather than a stand-alone diagnostic test.
TUG vs. the Berg Balance Scale and the Morse Fall Scale
The TUG’s main advantage over the Berg Balance Scale is speed: it takes roughly one to two minutes versus 15–20 minutes, at the cost of assessing only one movement sequence rather than 14 distinct balance tasks. Relative to the Morse Fall Scale, which is a chart-based screen requiring no direct patient performance, the TUG requires the patient to actually get up and walk, which gives it a real performance-based signal the Morse Fall Scale’s history/chart items can’t capture — but also means it can’t be completed for a patient who is on strict bed rest or otherwise unable to ambulate. Many fall-prevention programs use more than one of these tools at different points: a fast chart screen at admission for every patient, and a performance-based test like the TUG or BBS for patients the chart screen flags or for tracking rehabilitation progress over time.
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal Timed Up and Go test result?
Under 10 seconds is generally considered normal mobility with low fall risk in healthy older adults; times in the 10–20 second range can still be normal for frailer individuals. There is no single universal cutoff across all populations and settings.
How do you perform a Timed Up and Go test?
The patient sits in a standard armchair, then on “go” stands, walks 3 meters at a normal pace, turns around, walks back, and sits down, while the tester times the full sequence with a stopwatch, allowing one practice trial first.
What does the Timed Up and Go test measure?
It measures functional mobility — the combined ability to rise from a chair, walk, turn, and sit back down safely — as a quick proxy for lower-extremity function, balance, and fall risk.
What is considered a high-risk TUG score?
Times of roughly 12–14 seconds and above are commonly cited in the validation literature as signaling increased fall risk, with times of 20–30 seconds or more generally read as high risk warranting further evaluation. Confirm the specific threshold your organization has adopted in policy.
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