The Mobility Check: Five Things to Test at Home and What to Do Next

Shoes on. Clear the floor of rugs and cords. Nothing sharp or hard nearby. For every check below, have something solid and fixed within arm's reach: a bench, a wall, a sturdy rail. Never a chair on castors, a chair that slides, a towel rail, or anything that can tip.

Have someone with you, or skip the self-check. If you have had a fall in the last twelve months, use a walking aid, feel unsteady on your feet, get dizzy, or are unsure, do this with another adult in the room, or book an assessment instead.

Get assessed before you try any of this if any of the following applies to you: surgery where your surgeon's restrictions still apply; a hip or knee replacement, at any time; osteoporosis, osteopenia, or a fracture from a minor fall; a spinal fracture; pregnancy or recently postpartum; a known heart condition, angina, or blood pressure that is not controlled; an aneurysm; dizziness or vertigo; a neurological condition such as Parkinson's, MS, stroke or neuropathy; an arthritis flare; pain currently being investigated; or if you have been advised not to exercise. See your doctor or physiotherapist first.

Stop straight away if you get: chest pain or tightness, breathlessness beyond what the effort warrants, dizziness or light-headedness, palpitations, nausea or a cold sweat, sudden joint pain, pins and needles or weakness in an arm or leg, or a change in vision or speech. Stop, sit down. For chest pain, breathlessness at rest, fainting, or weakness or a change in speech: call 000, and do not drive yourself.

Breathe normally throughout. No holding your breath, no bracing.

Every check below is shown in its supported version, and the supported version is the normal way to do it, not the easy way.

Almost all the research showing that structured exercise prevents falls was done in people over 65. In the biggest review of it, the average participant was 76 years old and 77 per cent were women. Nothing in this guide means a short video or a single home check changes your own fall risk. That trial evidence is not about you.

What is useful is that Australia's current movement guidelines now ask adults from 18 to 64, not only older adults, to do functional work for mobility, balance and coordination three or more days a week. So the "what to do next" below is current Australian guidance for your own age group, not a borrowed recommendation from a trial in much older adults.

The five checks themselves come from studies that do cover people in their forties, fifties and sixties, more than most mobility content admits. Here is the honest version of what those studies found, said once rather than repeated at you five times. How fast people walk, whether they can get off the floor, how steady they are on one leg and how strong their grip is are all associated with how groups of people in that age band go on to do over the following years, including how long they live. Associated, not caused. That is a fact about groups, and it does not transfer to you. Nobody can look at how you did on a kitchen-floor version of one of these and tell you anything about your own future.

So the checks are in this guide because they are easy to notice and they point at something worth training, not because they predict anything about you. This guide prints none of the numbers from those studies, and there is nothing here to pass or fail. The only record you keep is comfortable, needed support, or could not do it, compared against yourself later, not against anyone else.

Why it's worth noticing. Walking pace is the most ordinary measure of whether the whole system, legs, heart, lungs and balance, is still working together. It has been studied in UK adults aged 40 to 69, which is your own age band rather than a borrowed one. See the section above for what that research does and does not mean.

How to do it. Walk a route you already know, at the pace you would use if you were in a hurry but not running, for about ten minutes. Notice two things: whether you can hold a conversation, and whether you finish at the same pace you started.

Who should not do this alone. Anyone with chest pain, new or worsening breathlessness, palpitations, dizziness or fainting on exertion. New symptoms during exertion are a reason to see your doctor before you try this, not a reason to push through it.

What to do next. Walk more, and walk some of it briskly. Both the volume and the pace of walking show up in the evidence for this age group. There is no single target number in this guide. A personal one is a conversation with your own doctor or trainer.

Why it's worth noticing. Getting down to the floor and back up is a real-life skill that uses strength, balance and range all at once, which is why it has been studied as a composite in adults aged 46 to 75. The people in that study were volunteers attending a fitness clinic, which is worth knowing: they were not a cross-section of the population. It is a life skill, not a test of your worth or a verdict on your future.

How to do it. Next to a sturdy chair, bench or wall, on a non-slip surface, shoes on, with someone else in the room. Lower yourself to sitting on the floor using whatever support you need, hands, knees or the furniture, then get back up the same way. There is no no-hands version of this check, no timing, and no score. The observation is how you did it and whether anything hurt.

Who should not try it alone, or at all without checking first. Anyone with a hip or knee replacement, recent lower-limb or spinal surgery, a history of falls, dizziness or balance problems, osteoporosis or a previous fragility fracture, or who cannot get down and up without pain. For these readers, raise it with your doctor or physiotherapist rather than attempt it at home.

What to do next. This is the check with the least evidence that improving it changes anything directly. The practical next step is progressive lower-body strength work, and practising the task itself with support, not a floor-rise challenge.

Why it's worth noticing. Standing on one leg is most of what walking actually is, one leg at a time, so it is a quick way to notice whether steadiness has changed. It has been studied in adults aged 51 to 75, which covers only the older half of this guide's readers, and the study's own authors note it did not control for recent falls or activity levels. That is a real limitation and it is one of the reasons this guide gives you no target to hit.

How to do it. Beside a bench, worktop or door frame, within reach of support at all times, shoes on, eyes open, nothing in your hands. Stand on one leg for a short, comfortable attempt and stop at the first wobble. No eyes-closed version, no cushion or wobble board, no maximal hold, no timing yourself against a published figure.

Who should not try it alone, or at all without checking first. Anyone with dizziness, vertigo, a recent fall, a known balance or neurological condition, recent lower-limb surgery, or who is unsteady on their feet. For them this is an assessment with a clinician, not a kitchen exercise.

What to do next. Balance is trainable with repeated, progressive, functional practice, which is exactly what Australia's movement guideline asks of adults 18 to 64, three or more days a week. One supported stance is one ingredient, not a programme.

Why it's worth noticing. This is a task observation, not a marker. There is no study linking how someone gets out of a chair to a health outcome in adults aged 40 to 60, and this guide does not claim one. What is well evidenced, in older adults, is that this ability responds to strength training.

How to do it. A stable chair, without wheels, against a wall. Stand up and sit down a few times, arms folded if that's comfortable, or using the arms of the chair if it's not. Notice whether you need your hands, whether it feels different from a year ago, and whether anything hurts.

Who should not do it alone. Anyone who needs their hands to stand and is unsteady once up, or anyone with knee, hip or back pain the movement provokes.

What to do next. Progressive lower-body strength work, twice a week or more, which is Australia's guideline for adults 18 to 64. This is the check with the clearest, best-evidenced next step of the five.

Why it's worth noticing. Grip is a convenient stand-in for how much muscle you have working overall, and it has been studied in adults aged 35 to 70, which does cover this guide's readers. The problem for a home check is that no substitute, a dead hang, a farmer's carry, a towel hold, has ever been validated against that research. This guide will not offer one as if it were a test.

How to do it. Don't test it. Notice it. Has carrying the shopping, holding a bag on a train, or opening jars changed for you? That's an observation anyone can make, and it doesn't claim anything about your risk.

What to do next. Whole-body resistance training, not grip training on its own. Muscle-strengthening activity in general is associated with lower risk across several health outcomes in large studies. If you want an actual grip measurement, a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist can take one with a proper device in about a minute, which is a cleaner option than a home substitute.

Nearly everything the five checks point to is answered by the same three things: get stronger in the legs, practise balance on purpose, and walk more, and sometimes faster. Australia's current movement guidelines for adults aged 18 to 64 recommend, verbatim:

Worth saying plainly: most of the trial evidence behind structured exercise programmes and falls, the strongest intervention evidence that exists, comes from people over 65. The guideline above is current Australian advice for your own age group either way, which is a better anchor for a 45 to 60-year-old reader than a trial built on much older participants.

These checks are useful for deciding where to start and for having a specific conversation with a clinician. They are not for grading yourself, and nothing here is a test you pass or fail.

None of these five checks is a test you pass or fail. The only record worth keeping is comfortable, needed support, or could not do it, compared against yourself over time.

Nothing here is a diagnosis, a treatment or medical advice, and it does not replace your GP or your specialist. I am a lifestyle medicine practitioner sharing general information, not your treating doctor.

If you are unwell now, or have symptoms you haven't had looked at, see your doctor first.