Timed Up and Go, gait speed, or sit-to-stand — which should you use?

Use gait speed when the question is walking capacity and prognosis, the Timed Up and Go when it involves transfers, turning, and dynamic balance together, and a sit-to-stand test when it is lower-limb strength and the ability to rise. They measure overlapping but distinct constructs, and many batteries include more than one for that reason.

Last reviewed .

Side by side

Gait speedTimed Up and GoSit-to-stand
ConstructWalking capacityTransfers, walking, turning, and dynamic balance combinedLower-limb strength and power in rising
TaskWalk a marked 4 m or 10 m at usual paceRise, walk 3 m, turn, return, sitRise and sit five times, or as many times as possible in 30 seconds
OutputMetres per secondSeconds to completeSeconds, or repetition count
Space neededA marked straight pathA chair and about 3 m of clear floorA chair
Main limitationSays nothing about transfers, turning, or balanceOne number covers four distinct sub-tasksConfounded by technique, arm use, and chair height

When each is the better choice

Gait speed

The default when the question is general functional status or prognosis. It is fast, has the largest body of threshold and normative data behind it, and is sensitive to change. It is also the measure most often embedded in frailty and sarcopenia criteria.

Timed Up and Go

Better when the concern is falls, balance, or the transfers of daily life, because it includes standing up, turning, and sitting down — none of which a straight-line walk tests. Its weakness is that the total time cannot tell you which of those components was the problem.

Sit-to-stand

The most direct of the three for lower-limb strength, and the least demanding in space, which makes it practical when there is no clear walking path. It is the most technique-dependent of the three, so chair height, arm use, and instructions need to be held constant.

Using more than one

Composite batteries exist because the individual tests are not interchangeable. The Short Physical Performance Battery combines balance, gait speed, and a chair stand into a single score for exactly this reason.

In a trial or a longitudinal clinic pathway, the practical constraint is usually administration burden rather than choice of construct. Reducing the time and staff attention each test costs makes it feasible to run more than one.

Where CurveAssure fits

CurveCapture covers walking, Timed Up and Go, and sit-to-stand in one capture workflow, so choosing between them is less of a trade-off than it is with separately administered tests. The battery is configurable — a practice selects the tasks and questionnaires that fit its patients.

For the Timed Up and Go specifically, the report separates the stand, walk, turn, and sit portions, which addresses the main limitation of a single total time.

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