Short Physical Performance Battery
What It Measures
The SPPB measures lower body function in older adults through three timed tasks, and the resulting score predicts a great deal about what happens next — disability, hospitalisation, and mortality among them.
Balance comes first: standing with feet side by side, then semi-tandem, then full tandem, holding each for ten seconds. Then gait speed over a four-metre walk at usual pace, timed twice with the faster time counted. Then five chair stands, rising from a seat and sitting back down as quickly as possible with arms crossed. Each of the three components scores 0 to 4, summing to a total from 0 to 12, where higher means better function.
Further Reading
Additional Notes
Licensing Notes: Freely available with no license or fee; administration instructions and score sheets are posted by the NIA and multiple academic sources. Equipment is a stopwatch, a standard chair, and a marked four-metre course.
Learn More: Two interpretation points. A total below 10 indicates one or more mobility limitations and predicts all-cause mortality — the most widely cited threshold. And the SPPB has a documented ceiling effect in higher-functioning people.
