Transition Between the Timed up and Go Turn to Sit Subtasks: Is Timing Everything?
Aner Weiss, Anat Mirelman, Nir Giladi and 4 others
PMID 27569715WHAT IT FOUND
A longer pause after turning before sitting, or a longer overlap where sitting starts before turning finishes, was linked to poorer motor and cognitive function and more disability in 1,055 older adults.
Key findings
01Most participants used a distinct transition: 77.34% (N=816) completed the final turn before sitting, while 22.65% (N=239) began sitting before completing the turn.
02For participants who separated the final turn from sitting, a longer gap was associated with worse parkinsonian gait and bradykinesia, slower gait, more mobility disability, and lower semantic memory and perceptual speed.
03For participants who overlapped the final turn and sitting, a longer overlap was associated with worse rigidity and parkinsonian gait, more mobility disability, and lower perceptual speed, but not with gait speed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The associations were cross-sectional, so the study cannot show that a longer turn-to-sit interval predicts decline, falls or disability. The analysis excluded people with dementia or Parkinson's disease, so it may not apply to those patients. The findings came from a research body sensor and custom algorithms, not from a stopwatch or a clinic-ready TUG. The reported timing values include standard deviations, so individual patients may differ from the average. The paper mentions fall risk, but it did not measure falls as an outcome.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists research support from N.I.H. extramural funding. It does not provide an author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that a longer turn-to-sit interval causes poor function or predicts falls. The study was cross-sectional, did not measure falls, and used a research sensor rather than a standard clinical TUG.