Summary

What it measures:

• Functional assessment of mobility, balance, and fall risk
• 3 variations exist:
  • TUG¹ (single task)
  • TUG Cognitive (TUG-Cog)² (dual task)
  • TUG Manual (TUG-Man)² (dual task)
• This summary pertains to TUG - single task.

International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

• Domain: Activities and Participation
• Category: Mobility

Target Population:

• Older adults³
• People with neurological conditions,^4-8 including vestibular disorders⁹
• People with osteoarthritis¹⁰
• People with lower extremity amputation¹¹
• Adults aged 20-59 years¹²

Taskforce Recommendations:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries (STEADI) initiative includes the TUG as a resource to help health care providers screen, assess, and intervene to reduce fall risk among their older patients.
• APTA Geriatrics' Outcome Measure Toolkit for Geriatric Fall/Balance Assessment:
  • TUG is not listed among outcomes measure with evidence of psychometric properties and fall risk predictability.
• The neurological diagnostic-specific EDGE outcome measure task forces of the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy have highly recommended use of TUG in Parkinson's Disease Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stages I-III, Spinal Cord Injury AIS C-D, and stroke. More information about these recommendations can be found here.

Clinical Insights:

• This test should not be used in isolation as a measure of fall risk among community-dwelling adults.³
• Use of TUG via telerehabilitation is feasible.^13-20
• It may be of benefit to incorporate TUG into routine assessment of patients aged 50 years and older, as people in their 50s are statistically slower on this test than those who are younger.¹²
• Floor effect may be present among elderly adults²¹ and some older hospitalized patients.²²
• TUG may be less reliable if used with patients who have cognitive impairments.²¹