No-kit assessment
Five Times Sit-to-Stand5xSTS
The five times sit-to-stand is the stopwatch counterpart to the 30-second test: instead of counting stands in a fixed time, it times a fixed five stands. It is quick, sensitive to lower-extremity weakness, and has age-banded reference times.
Safety
Same contraindications as other sit-to-stand tests: no recent lower-extremity fracture, acute cardiac event, uncontrolled hypertension, or weight-bearing restriction. Confirm one safe controlled stand first; guard throughout.
What you need
- Standard chair without armrests, roughly 17 in seat height, against a wall
- Stopwatch or phone timer
How to administer
- 1.Patient sits with back against the chair, arms crossed over the chest.
- 2.On 'go', the patient stands fully and sits fully five times as quickly as they safely can, keeping arms crossed.
- 3.Time from 'go' to the moment the patient's buttocks touch the chair on the fifth repetition.
- 4.One practice of one or two reps is reasonable to confirm understanding.
- 5.Record time in seconds to complete five full stands.
Cutoffs and norms
| Age | Mean / slower-than-normal threshold |
|---|---|
| 60-69 | Around 11.4 sec mean; slower suggests weakness |
| 70-79 | Around 12.6 sec mean; slower suggests weakness |
| 80-89 | Around 14.8 sec mean; slower suggests weakness |
Approximate reference means from a descriptive meta-analysis; a commonly cited general fall-risk flag is greater than 12 sec. Verify exact values against Bohannon before clinical use.
Source: Bohannon, 2006
Faster is better; this is a time, not a count, so it reads opposite to the 30-second test. Slower than the age reference indicates lower-extremity weakness and elevated fall risk. Compare serial scores on the identical setup.