How many times could you stand up from a chair and sit down again, without using your hands, in 30 seconds? The answer may indicate your ability to maintain independence in later life. The 30-second sit-to-stand test, as it’s known, first appeared in a 1999 study by California State University researchers Roberta E. Rikli and C. Jessie Jones. The test formed a central component of the Fullerton Functional Fitness Test battery the pair developed to predict mobility, fall risk and independence in later life. Article continues below You may like Nearly three decades later, it’s still frequently used by physical therapists to assess fall risk, including as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) STEADI framework (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries). “Preventing or delaying the onset of physical frailty is an increasingly important goal because more individuals are living well into their 8th and 9th decades,” the study’s authors noted at the turn of the century. In 2013, Rikli and Jones published benchmarks for the 30-second sit-to-stand test for older adults …