Documentation of daily sit-to-stands performed by community-dwelling adults

Abstract

No information exists about how many sit-to-stands (STSs) are performed daily by community-dwelling adults. We, therefore, examined the feasibility of using a tally counter to document daily STSs, documented the number of daily STSs performed, and determined if the number of STSs was influenced by demographic or health variables. Ninety-eight community-dwelling adults (19–84 years) agreed to participate. After providing demographic and health information, subjects used a tally counter to document the number of STSs performed daily for 7 consecutive days. All but two subjects judged their counter-documented STS number to be accurate. Excluding data from these and two other subjects, the mean number of STSs for subjects was 42.8 to 49.3, depending on the day. The number was significantly higher on weekdays than weekends. No demographic or health variable was significantly related to the number of STSs in univariate or multivariate analysis. In conclusion, this study suggests that a tally counter may be a practical aid to documenting STS activity. The STS repetitions recorded by the counter in this study provide an estimate of the number of STSs that community-dwelling adults perform daily.