Struggling to balance on one leg for 10 seconds signals double the risk of death

Failing to hold a one-legged stance for 10 seconds is tied to an 84% higher risk of dying within the next decade, according to a study of 1,702 middle-aged and older adults. Researchers tracked the group for an average of seven years and found a stark split in outcomes: 17.5% of those who could not balance for the full 10 seconds died during the study, compared with 4.5% of those who passed. The test takes less time than tying a shoe, and the researchers behind it say that is exactly the point.

Ten Seconds, One Leg, No Support

The test itself is simple enough to try in a hallway, and it takes a specific form rather than any casual one-legged wobble. A person stands unsupported, places the front of one foot’s sole against the back of the opposite calf, folds their arms across their chest, and tries to hold that position with eyes open for 10 seconds without moving the support foot or touching down. Researchers at the Clinimex exercise medicine clinic in Rio de Janeiro built their study around exactly that pass-or-fail moment, drawing on a patient cohort the clinic has followed since 1994.

Their paper, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on June 21, 2022, was led by Claudio Gil Araújo along with seven co-authors, including researchers from the University of Bristol’s Medical School. Among the 1,702 participants, ages 51 to 75 and roughly two-thirds male, 20.5% could not complete the 10-second hold, a failure the study linked to that 84% jump in all-cause mortality risk even after statistical adjustment for age, sex, and other established risk factors.

Failure Rates Climb Fast After 50

What makes the test notable is how quickly the failure rate accelerates with age. Roughly 5% of participants aged 51 to 55 could not complete the hold, a share that climbed to about 18% by ages 61 to 65 and reached approximately 54% among those aged 71 to 75. That trajectory means most people cross from “easy pass” to “even odds” within about two decades, often without noticing the decline until a test forces the issue.

The researchers described the appeal of the measure in practical terms. “The 10 second balance test provides rapid and objective feedback for the patient and health professional, regarding static balance,” the study’s authors wrote, adding that the result “adds useful information regarding mortality risk” beyond standard measures like cholesterol or blood pressure. Of the 123 deaths recorded during the study’s follow-up period, cancer and cardiovascular disease together accounted for roughly two-thirds.

Balance Sits Alongside Grip Strength and Gait Speed

Balance is one of a small set of simple physical measures that researchers increasingly treat as a broader snapshot of health, alongside grip strength and walking speed. The Bristol release accompanying the paper notes that unlike cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, or flexibility, balance tends to hold fairly steady from young adulthood into a person’s 50s before dropping off sharply in a way that is easy to test but rarely measured in routine medical visits. The CDC’s STEADI initiative, aimed at reducing older-adult falls, encourages this kind of routine balance screening in primary care, though it relies on a broader set of tools than the one-leg stand alone.

Improving the underlying skill does not require specialized equipment. The National Institute on Aging recommends about three balance sessions a week, built from moves like heel-to-toe walking, standing up from a chair without using the hands, and practicing a single-leg stand near a wall or sturdy piece of furniture for support. Separate guidance from the National Library of Medicine suggests folding balance work into ordinary moments, such as standing on one foot while waiting in a line. Both target the same muscles and reflexes the Clinimex researchers were measuring in their 10-second test.

A single failed attempt is not a diagnosis on its own. It reflects a snapshot of neuromuscular control at one moment, and the Rio researchers measured association rather than direct cause. The size of the gap they found is what pushed the finding into a widely cited paper rather than a footnote: most people go from a routine pass in their 50s to close to a coin flip by their early 70s.

The study population itself has limits worth naming. All 1,702 participants were patients at a single Brazilian sports-medicine clinic, skewing toward people already engaged enough with their health to be tracked there, and the sample was overwhelmingly white and about two-thirds male. Those constraints do not erase the mortality gap the researchers measured, but they are a reason clinicians describe the test as a screening prompt rather than a stand-alone verdict on any one patient.

Seven years after the Clinimex cohort finished its monitoring window, the underlying message from Araújo’s team has not shifted: a test that costs nothing and takes 10 seconds picked up a mortality signal that took researchers years of follow-up data to confirm.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.