Your functional age test result has two parts that matter: the overall number, and the gap between it and your chronological age. A functional age lower than your real age is favourable; higher means specific domains are underperforming. The most useful information is the domain-by-domain breakdown, which shows your percentile ranking in strength, balance, gait, […] Read More
Most seniors should take a functional age test once a year as a baseline health check, and every three to six months when actively working to improve their score or recovering from an illness, injury or hospital stay. Testing much more often than every few months mostly captures normal day-to-day variation rather than genuine change. […] Read More
Five physical tests reveal most of your functional age: the sit-to-stand test (lower-body strength), gait speed (whole-body integration), a balance test (fall risk), grip strength (muscle quality), and a stamina test (cardiovascular fitness). Each one is quick, needs little or no equipment, and predicts real-world outcomes such as independence, fall risk and even survival. Together […] Read More
An at-home functional age test offers convenience, comfort and lower cost, while an in-clinic assessment offers greater precision, professional supervision and expert interpretation. For a general baseline and for tracking your own progress over time, a guided at-home test is often sufficient. For maximum accuracy, for people with significant health conditions or fall risk, and […] Read More
Quick Answer During a functional age assessment you complete a short health questionnaire, then perform a series of simple, low-intensity physical tests – walking a set distance, rising from a chair, standing on one leg, and a grip measurement — before receiving your functional age with a breakdown of your results. The whole appointment takes […] Read More
Quick Answer A functional age test works in four stages: a short health questionnaire, a series of standardised physical performance tests, scoring of those results against age- and sex-matched population norms, and conversion into a single functional age number. The physical tests typically measure lower-body strength, gait speed, balance, grip strength and stamina. Each raw […] Read More
Quick Answer Functional age is a measure of how well your body performs, based on tests of strength, balance, stamina, mobility and thinking speed, expressed as an age. If your results match those of a typical 62-year-old, your functional age is 62 — regardless of your birth date. For adults over 60, it is a […] Read More
Quick Answer Yes — functional age can be lowered, and the research supporting this is unusually strong. Because functional age measures performance rather than elapsed time, it responds to training the way any performance metric does. Studies have demonstrated significant strength and mobility gains in adults in their eighties and nineties, including frail adults in […] Read More
Quick Answer Functional age is closely tied to life expectancy because the measures behind it — particularly gait speed and grip strength — are among the strongest known predictors of survival in older adults. Large pooled studies have found that walking speed predicts remaining life expectancy well, and that two people of the same chronological […] Read More
Quick Answer Functional age predicts disability risk because the tests behind it – gait speed, chair-rise time, balance and grip strength – measure the exact capacities that daily independence depends on. Research consistently shows that people who perform poorly on these simple tests are far more likely to develop mobility disability, fall, be hospitalised, and […] Read More