Telegraph OT

[Tim Lamb]

OK. So how many of you can stand on one leg with your eyes shut for more than 5 seconds?

I felt the grip test and stand up, sit down test were too easy.

[Brian Gaff]

Pardon, is this some kind of new dance move.

Standing on one leg is very dependent on footwear and floor covering I find. Brian

[Nightjar]

Should there have been a link in there somewhere, just so we know what you are talking about?

Colin Bignell

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Brian Gaff writes

Brief article on simple health checks. I don't have a url but for those

50 and up it suggests grip strength, timed repetitive standing from a hard backed chair sitting position and standing on one leg with your eyes closed.

Eyes open, I'm fine if a little wobbly. Eyes shut, 5 seconds is difficult. I guess my inner ear balance organs are shot. Fortunately I don't suffer from sea sickness.

Blindness might be some advantage if you can find a way of benefiting:-)

[Tim Lamb]

I only have the paper copy.

[Nightjar]

I don't recall when I last bought a newspaper.

Colin Bignell

[Gazz]

I can, it was a couple of weeks ago, the mirror or the scum i think it was,

didn't read it of course, wanted it to line the canaries breeding cage floors with it, and for the purpose of being repeatedly shat upon, tabloids are just right it seems :)

[Nightjar]

How are you supposed to check that without a dynamometer?

I have long used standing on one leg alternately as a way of relieving my feet when standing for long periods. I sometimes get odd looks when I do it in public without thinking.

Colin Bignell

[Robin]

Link is

But I post mainly to say the rules of the game are important. Clinical tests of "single leg stance" sometimes[1] (often? always?) require you to stand with arms crossed over chest, raise one foot so it's near but not the ankle the other, and count the time only until you use your arms or move the raised foot or move the foot you are standing on. It's a damn sight harder when you can wobble!

Oh, and I suspect the Elves would insist you don't try it at home!

[1] 'Er indoors has vestibular impairment so I've seen some of it

[Nightjar]

Thank you for the link. Too late for me, if you have to be 53 to do the tests though.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Must be an advantage living in London. You just pick up one of the many free ones for that.

[harryagain]

they probably think you're a freemason.

[John Rumm]

I do wish papers would stop writing articles like this that only use relative stats... yes they make for headlines with more "impact" but that don't actually tell you anything unless they also include the baseline that all the relative numbers are departures from.

E.g.

"The new study found that men who could stand up from a chair and sit down again less than 23 times in a minute were twice as likely to die in the following 13 years than those who could 37 or more."

Now is "twice as likely" something to be worried about? If the odds are "normally" 1 in 10,000 then a reduction to 1 in 5000 is still not much to get worked up about. However a change from 1 in 50 to 1 in 25 could be of more concern.

[JimK]

me ;>)

Jim K

[whisky-dave]

I had a liberal democrate flyer through the door last night now all I need is a per to shit on it :-) Unfortunalty my cats got better taste and uses a litter tray.

[michael adams]

According to "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" 1999 edition p.143 this is fairly age specific

age

20 30 seconds 40 15 seconds 60 5 seconds

michael adams

...

[whisky-dave]

How or where did they get the 13 years from ?

And if you do the above a little too quickly how many men are likely to do their backs some damage.

[michael adams]

The study ended in 1999 (46+53)

" The study tracked 5,000 people born in 1946 throughout their lives and who had completed the tests during home visits from specially trained nurses at age 53."

Another 13 years waiting to see how many fell off their perches, took it to 2012. Plus another two years gathering the data.

michael adams

...

[Robin]

The BMJ paper was based on the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development which is alive and well* - see

*or as well as can be expected of a 65 year old ;(

[Tim Lamb]

Perhaps you'll survive then.

The conclusion of the report summary was that more attention should be paid to those with low scores from the tests.

I'd still like to know which bit/bits of me are implicated in the one foot failure:-)