According to a recent study, individuals who cannot stand on one leg for 10 seconds have an increased risk of dying within seven years.
The balance test in the shape of a flamingo delivers “valuable information regarding mortality risk in middle-aged and older men and women,” according to researchers.
Researchers have stated that balancing on one leg should be included in midlife health examinations.
The balance test in the shape of a flamingo delivers “valuable information regarding mortality risk in middle-aged and older men and women,” according to researchers.
The global team of researchers, which included experts from Bristol Medical School, evaluated data on 1,702 Brazilians aged 51 to 75.
As part of the health examination, participants were required to stand on one leg for 10 seconds without assistance when they initially joined the study.
To standardize the evaluation, participants were instructed to remove their shoes and socks, lay the front of their free foot on the back of the opposite lower leg, keep their arms at their sides, and maintain a straightforward stare.
They had three opportunities.
Twenty percent of people failed the test, with the inability to do so increasing with age: 54 percent of those aged 71 to 75 were unable to balance on one leg for 10 seconds, compared to 5 percent of those aged 51 to 55, 8 percent of those aged 56 to 60, 18 percent of those aged 61 to 65, and 37 percent of those aged 66 to 70.
People who did not pass the test were more likely to be older, overweight, and diagnosed with diabetes.
The British Journal of Sports Medicine-published study followed participants for several years.
Update after seven years
After an average of seven years of follow-up, 123 participants, or 7 percent, had passed away.
Approximately 17.5% of individuals who failed the test were among the deceased, compared to 4.6% of those who passed.
The researchers found that an inability to stand freely on one leg for 10 seconds was connected with an 84 percent greater risk of death during the follow-up period, after accounting for numerous circumstances.
“Using the static balance test routinely in people with a wide range of ages and clinical conditions, the test has been astonishingly safe, well-received by the participants, and simple to implement into our everyday practice as it takes less than one or two minutes to administer,” they said.
The researchers found that the 10-second balance evaluation “provides immediate and objective feedback to the patient and health professionals regarding static balance” and that the test “adds valuable information regarding mortality risk in middle-aged and older men and women.
“There may be a benefit to incorporating the 10-second one-legged stance (test) into routine physical examinations of middle-aged and elderly individuals”.
