30-second chair stand test

What the 30-second chair stand test measures

The test measures lower body strength in older adults. Jones, Rikli and Beam described it in 1999. They tested 76 community-dwelling adults over 60 (mean age 70.5 years), who did the chair stand test and a maximum leg press on 2 separate days, 2 to 5 days apart.

Test-retest reliability was good, with intraclass correlations of 0.84 for men and 0.92 for women. The number of stands correlated with the maximum leg press adjusted for body weight (r = 0.78 in men, 0.71 in women). Scores also fell from one age decade to the next and were lower in less active people. The CDC STEADI form describes the purpose of the test as checking leg strength and endurance.

How to do the 30-second chair stand test

You need a stopwatch and a chair with a straight back and no armrests, with a seat 17 inches (about 43 cm) high. Put the chair against a wall so it cannot slide, and stand next to the patient for safety.

1. The patient sits in the middle of the chair with their back straight and feet flat on the floor, about shoulder width apart.
2. They cross their arms at the wrists, with each hand on the opposite shoulder, and keep their arms against the chest.
3. Show the movement, first slowly and then quickly. Let the patient try 1 or 2 stands to check their form and balance.
4. Say "go" and start timing. The patient stands up fully, then sits all the way back down, as many times as they can in 30 seconds.
5. Count each full stand. If the patient is more than halfway up when the 30 seconds end, count it as a stand.
6. If the patient has to use their arms to stand, stop the test and record 0.

The University of Missouri directions use a single trial. They also suggest taking vital signs before and after the test and writing down anything you changed, such as a different chair height or help given.

Safety and when not to do the test

Clear the space around the chair and have the patient wear their usual shoes. Ask them to breathe normally through the test and not hold their breath.

Do not run the test until a doctor or the treating team has cleared it if the patient:

• has been advised by their doctor not to exercise
• gets chest pain, angina or dizziness when they exert themselves
• has a resting blood pressure over 160/100, or heart failure that is not stable
• is acutely unwell, or has joint pain that standing up from a chair makes clearly worse
• has had recent hip or knee surgery, unless the surgeon's protocol allows repeated standing from a 17 inch (43 cm) chair

Stop the test straight away if the patient has chest pain, dizziness, marked shortness of breath or sharp joint pain, or if they lose their balance. Write down why you stopped. A test stopped for safety is not a score to compare with the norms. This is different from a patient who needs their arms to stand: the CDC form scores that as 0.

How to read the result

Rikli and Jones (1999) published norms for the 30-second chair stand from 7,183 community-residing adults aged 60 to 94 (5,048 women and 2,135 men). The normal range in the table below runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile for each age group, so it covers the middle half of that sample. A score below the range is below average for age and sex, and a score above it is above average.

Values are the number of full stands in 30 seconds, as given in the University of Missouri Geriatric Assessment Tool Kit summary of Rikli and Jones (1999).

The CDC STEADI falls screening table

The CDC STEADI form for this test lists below average scores by age and sex, and states that a below average score indicates a risk for falls. For every age group, its cutoff is the lower end of the Rikli and Jones normal range. For example, a man aged 70 to 74 is below average with fewer than 12 stands, and a woman of the same age with fewer than 10.

The form does not name the study behind these values or say how well they predict falls. Treat a low score as one finding in a wider falls assessment, not the answer on its own.

Limits of the norms

The norms start at 60 and stop at 94. For younger or older patients there is no matching group, so the calculator does not compare them.

The people in the norms study lived in the community. According to the University of Missouri summary, people were left out if a doctor had advised them not to exercise, if they had congestive heart failure, if they had joint pain, chest pain, dizziness or angina during exercise, or if their blood pressure was over 160/100. The validation study kept its own conclusion to the same kind of group: a reasonably reliable and valid measure of lower body strength in generally active, community-dwelling older adults.

Be careful when you compare frail patients, inpatients or people recovering from surgery with these ranges. If you use the test to follow one patient over time, keep the same chair, the same instructions and the same counting rule each time you retest.

Sources

1. Jones CJ, Rikli RE, Beam WC. A 30-s chair-stand test as a measure of lower body strength in community-residing older adults. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 1999;70(2):113-119. doi:10.1080/02701367.1999.10608028
2. Rikli RE, Jones CJ. Functional fitness normative scores for community-residing older adults, ages 60-94. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. 1999;7(2):162-181. doi:10.1123/japa.7.2.162
3. University of Missouri Geriatric Assessment Tool Kit. 30 second chair stand test (Rikli, Jones 1999): directions and normal ranges. geriatrictoolkit.missouri.edu
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. STEADI assessment: 30-Second Chair Stand. 2017. cdc.gov/steadi
5. Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Rehabilitation Measures Database. 30 Second Sit to Stand Test. sralab.org

This tool compares a chair stand score with published values for education. It is not a medical assessment.