Timed Up and Go (TUG) test
A simple clinical test that times how quickly a person stands up, walks a short distance, turns and sits back down.
The Timed Up and Go is a short clinical test of mobility. The person stands up from a standard armchair, walks three metres, turns, walks back and sits down again, and the time taken is recorded in seconds. That is the whole test.
Its value is the amount of information packed into one number. Standing from a chair requires leg strength and power, walking requires gait speed and balance, and the turn requires coordination and postural control, so a single time reflects several capacities that would otherwise need separate assessments.
It is used mainly in older adults, where it functions as a falls risk screen and a general measure of functional mobility. Longer times are associated with higher falls risk and with reduced independence, and cut off values in the region of twelve to fourteen seconds are commonly cited, with local protocols varying.
It also tracks change well. Because it needs only a chair, three metres of floor and a stopwatch, it can be repeated easily to see whether a strength or balance programme is working.
What it does not do is diagnose anything. A slow time indicates that something is limiting mobility, and the reasons range from weakness and poor balance to joint pain, neurological conditions, vision problems and fear of falling.
It connects to the wider picture on this site through sarcopenia and power. Rising from a chair is a power task rather than a pure strength one, and power declines earlier with age, which is why the test picks up problems before someone would describe themselves as weak.
In practice, it is a useful thing to know about for an ageing parent, and improving it is a training problem: strength, power and balance work, progressively.