Abstract
The 8ft-up-and-go (UPGO) test is a commonly used tool for assessing agility and dynamic balance in older adults. The purpose of this study was to determine if lead leg impacts UPGO performance. Participants were 31 adults (males= 7, females = 24) over the age of 65 years, with a mean age of 82.03 years (SD = 6.93). Volunteers completed three UPGO tests of two trials each with the fasted time recorded for each test. In the initial test, participants performed the UPGO with no instruction on lead leg. Researchers noted the lead leg chosen (called preferred leg). In subsequent tests, participants were instructed to use either the right or left leg as the lead in random order. Results indicate no difference in performance between the three tests (p = .10). In the initial test, twenty-four participants preferred the right leg, while seven preferred the left leg. Although non-significant (p = .19), participants who preferred the left leg had scores 0.74 seconds faster than those who preferred the right leg on the initial UPGO test. When grouped by preferred leg, participants who preferred the right leg performed significantly better when instructed to use the right leg than during their preferred leg test (p = .03) which could indicate a familiarization effect. Those who preferred the left leg did not see a similar improvement in subsequent tests perhaps due to the high initial performance or the small sample size. While some evidence indicates a difference in performance between lead legs, further study is needed to draw definitive conclusions.