Walking Speed: The 6th Vital Sign

Traditionally, we measure five vital signs: blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, and pain levels. These help us understand your health and predict risks.

Now, there's exciting news about a sixth vital sign: walking speed, or gait speed.

This is super important for checking how well you move and involves many body systems, like your nervous and musculoskeletal systems. Walking speed is a great indicator of overall health, especially for older adults. It's linked to important outcomes like hospital visits, falls, cognitive decline, disability, and even mortality.

What factors affect my walking speed?

Walking is a complex functional activity and is influenced by a number of different factors including but not limited to an individual’s:

  • health status

  • motor control

  • balance and coordination

  • muscle performance and musculoskeletal condition

  • sensory and perceptual function

  • endurance and average activity level

  • cognitive status

  • motivation and mental health

  • environment they walk in.

How do I compare to the average?

Below you can find the average comfortable walking speed in terms of metres covered per second for your age group and specific to your gender if you’re over the age of 50.

  • Men aged 50-59 comfortable pace: 1.43 m/s

  • Woman aged 50-59 comfortable pace: 1.31 m/s

  • Men aged 60-69 comfortable pace: 1.34 m/s

  • Woman aged 60-69 comfortable pace: 1.24 m/s

  • Woman aged 70-79 comfortable pace: 1.13 m/s.

  • Men aged 70-79 comfortable pace: 1.26 m/s.

  • Woman aged 80-99 comfortable pace: 0.94 m/s.

  • Men aged 80-99 comfortable pace: 0.97 m/s.

How slow do I have to be before I am at risk?

If your walking speed is less than 0.8 m/s this is predictive of poor clinical outcomes such as previously listed: hospitalisation, falls risk, cognitive decline, disability and mortality.

If your walking speed is less than 0.6 m/s this is predictive of continued decline in individuals already experiencing the poor outcomes listed above.

At 3D Physiotherapy Health Group, we make it easy to check your walking speed and other factors that might be affecting it.

One of our go-to tests is the 10-metre walk test. It’s as simple as it sounds! We use a 20 m straight path with sections for speeding up, steady walking, and slowing down. Markers are placed at 5 m and 15 m. You’ll walk at a comfortable pace, and we’ll time how long it takes you to walk the central 10 m.

If we don’t have a full 20 m path, we can use shorter distances. Besides walking speed, we also look at your balance, coordination, muscle strength, reaction times, and anything else that helps us understand your needs. This way, we can create a personalised program just for you.

How much do I have to improve to make a difference?

In a recent study, with a diverse group of older participants with varying diagnoses, 0.05 m/s was calculated as the needed change for a small but meaningful improvement in walking speed. This means you can feel a meaningful improvement just by covering an additional 5cm each second!

For patients who do not have average walking speed, an improvement of at least 0.1 m/s is also shown to be a useful predictor for improving well-being, while a decrease in the same amount is linked with poorer health status, more disability, longer hospital stays, and increased medical costs.

How can I improve my walking speed?

Step 1 Book an appointment with one of our fantastic physiotherapists to assess your walking speed and other influencing factors. This gives us a baseline to track your progress and identify areas to focus on.

Step 2 Begin your tailored program focusing on aspects of function like coordination, dynamic balance, agility and muscular strength. It’s time to get to work and reap the rewards!

Step 3 You might be recommended for one of our amazing group classes, like GLA:D for osteoarthritis, Strong Movers, or Strong for Life, which focus on strength, balance, reaction time, and coordination. Check our website for more details.

Step 4 Re-assess! We'll re-test your walking speed and other measures at the end of your program to see your improvement.

Step 5 Celebrate! You've reduced your risk of hospitalization, falls, cognitive decline, disability, and mortality, and you're on your way to a healthier lifestyle.

Post by Jed Rodda, Physiotherapist

References

Fritz, S., & Lusardi, M. (2009). White paper:“walking speed: the sixth vital sign”. Journal of geriatric physical therapy, 32(2), 2-5. doi: 10.1519/00139143-200932020-00002

 Hardy, S. E., Perera, S., Roumani, Y. F., Chandler, J. M., & Studenski, S. A. (2007). Improvement in usual gait speed predicts better survival in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 55(11), 1727-1734. DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01413.x

 Samson, M. M., Crowe, A., De Vreede, P. L., Dessens, J. A., Duursma, S. A., & Verhaar, H. J. (2001). Differences in gait parameters at a preferred walking speed in healthy subjects due to age, height and body weight. Aging clinical and experimental research, 13, 16-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03351489