Senior Citizen Fitness Test

The Rikli and Jones senior citizen fitness test describes simple but effective tests that measure aerobic fitness strength, including flexibility in older adults utilising minimum but also inexpensive equipment. Everyday tasks such as getting out of a chair, walking, lifting, bending, and stretching are included in the Individual Fitness Test items.

The exams were created to be safe and enjoyable for older persons while also achieving scientific validity and reliability criteria.

The tests are as follows:

• Test of the chair stand 

• The arm curl test 

• Sit and reach test in a Chair 

• Scratch test on the back 

• The 8-foot-up-and-go test 

• 6-minute walk test 

Upper-Body Strength Measured using The Arm Curl Test

It’s a strength test for the upper body. This exam is designed to assess upper-body strength and stamina. In 30 seconds, the patient must perform as many arm curls as possible. This test is carried out on the forearm (or stronger side).

Procedure

The individual sits in the chair, grasping the weight (8 pounds for men, 5 pounds for women) in hand with the arm in either a vertically down position alongside the chair, to use a suitcase grip (palm facing the body).

Just the lower arm moves because the upper arm is pressed against the body (the tester may hold the upper arm steady).

The subject’s goal is to curve the arm up throughout its complete range of motion and gradually place the palm up.

You would slowly lower the arm throughout its full range of motion before returning to its initial position. At the elbow, the component must be wholly bent and then wholly straightened.

Scratch Test on the Back for Upper Body Flexibility

This test is completed in a standing position. Keep one hand behind your head, then back over your shoulder, reaching as far down the middle of your back as necessary. Your palm must be in contact with your body, while your fingers must be pointing downwards. Then extend out as high as you can behind your back, palms facing outward with fingers upward, striving to meet or overlap the middle fingers of both hands. Fingers must be in a straight line. You should measure the distance here between the tips of your fingers. If the fingertips touch, the score is zero; if they don’t, calculate the length between the fingers’ ends (negative); if they overlap, how much (+score).

Lower Body Flexibility Tested by Sitting in a Chair and Reaching out

This test is intended to assess back and leg (hamstring muscle) flexibility. It is an absolute or linear flexibility test.

Equipment: A yardstick and a testing box or flex measure. 

Procedure: The individual is requested to take off their shoes and sit on the floor with straight knees and their feet against the testing box. The individual now is instructed to position one hand on top of the other until both hands’ middle fingers are the same length.

The individual is told to lean forward and position their hands from an over measuring scale on the top of the box, with a 10-inch mark matched with the testing box’s front edge. The patient is then instructed to glide their hands as far as necessary along the measuring scale while bouncing and hold to the furthest position for at least one second.

Test Your Lower Body Strength By Standing in a Chair

The Chair-Stand is used to assess the strength of the lower body in persons over the age of 60. Lower-body power is necessary for activities like getting out of a chair, calling on the bus, stepping out of a car, including rising from a kneeling position in the house and garden. The ease in which you do the things you conduct every day is significantly related to the strength of your lower body.

Equipment: Stopwatch and a chair without arms.

Procedure:

Place the chair against a wall to keep it from tipping over.

Place your feet level on the floor, shoulder-width apart, and your back straight in the centre of the chair.

Put your arms against your chest, crossed at the wrist. The test partner will notify you when and where to start and use the stopwatch to time you for thirty seconds.

During the 30-second interval, you will raise to a complete stand and sit down as many times as possible.

Conclusion

The Rikli and Jones Senior Fitness Test is a set of easy assessments that assess older people’s functional fitness. The following are the tests: # Chair Stand Test – To assess lower-body strength. # Arm Curl Test – This exercise is used to determine upper-body strength. # Sit and Reach test in a Chair – To assess lower body movement. Blood tests for fundamental health, cholesterol and sugar levels, kidney and liver function, and total blood cell count are still necessary for senior health exams. Thyroid hormone levels, serum Vitamin B12, especially folate levels, on the other hand, are advised as further tests.