Sitting-to-Rising Test? I am here with another episode of Kiss and Tell. Keep It Super Simple and share the information with people you know, love, and care about.
Today I’m gonna share with you a simple little test that you can do that has huge insight into your safety and health as you age. It’s called the Sitting-to-Rising Test.
Our ability to get up off the floor is a huge indicator of our health and safety as we age. It has to do with our balance, our muscular strength, and our stability. And let me tell you something, no amount of cardiorespiratory training is going to help you perform better in this test.
So here’s what you do – The challenge is to sit on the floor and get up to a standing position. You start with 10 points.
And for every point in the process of standing that you need to brace yourself or get support, in other words, you put a hand on the floor, a forearm, the side of your leg,… anything at all to help you get up to a standing position, you deduct one point. You cannot use a chair or table or any other assistive device during this process. For each moment in the process that you need to support yourself, deduct one point.
So, if I put my forearm on the ground, that’s minus a point. If I swing over on the side of my leg or my knees, every one of those is minus one point. You also want to deduct a point if in the process when you’re standing, you’re off balance, unstable, and really not very steady in the process. So the higher your score, the more internal strength that you have, and the more muscle-skeletal strength that you actually have. And being able to get up and rise from the floor is a huge indicator as we age.
Having a low score on this test is a very high indicator of your likelihood of falling and hurting yourself. And as we all know, fall-related injuries and deaths are the number one killers of baby boomers and seniors.
So here we go. Do the simple little test, be honest with yourself, and, keep your score. If your score drops below five, then that means you really do need to do some strength conditioning. If your score drops below three, then you know this is almost an emergency. I mean you really need to do something to work on your strength and your balance.
So there you go, simple test, do it, try sitting and rising, and be honest with yourself.
Let me know what you think. You can post your results down here, give us your score, let us know how you did, and drop any comments or thoughts. We Love questions.
