6-minute walk test · 6MWT
Purpose
Use this test to measure how far your client can walk in 6 minutes. Your client sets their own pace and may slow down or rest, so the test shows the level of effort of everyday walking.
The American Thoracic Society wrote the standard protocol in 2002. It is used most with heart and lung patients, and also with older adults.
Procedure
- Preparation
- Mark a 30 m straight course on a flat, hard floor, with a cone at each end and a mark every 3 m. Your client wears comfortable clothes and walking shoes, and has not exercised hard in the last 2 hours. They sit near the start for 10 minutes before the test. Do not warm up.
- Equipment
- Two cones, tape, a stopwatch and a chair
Explain the test
The goal is to walk as far as possible in 6 minutes, back and forth around the cones, without running. Your client may slow down, stop and rest, then walk again. Show one lap yourself.
Start the walk
Your client starts at the start line. Start the stopwatch as soon as they walk. Stay near the start line and do not walk with them.
Count the laps
Count a lap each time your client passes the start line. Speak only to give the time left, once a minute, in an even voice. If your client rests, keep the stopwatch running.
Mark where they stop
At 6 minutes, tell your client to stop where they are. Mark the spot and measure the final partial lap with the marks on the floor.
Stop the test if your client has chest pain, severe breathlessness, leg cramps, staggers, sweats heavily or looks pale or ashen.
Scoring
The score is the full laps times 60 m, plus the final partial lap, to the nearest metre.
Interpretation
Compare walks on the same course and with the same instructions. The calculator shows the distance without a label.
Sources
- ATS statement: guidelines for the six-minute walk test (2002)American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 166(1):111–117. Course, instructions, stop reasons, contraindications and scoring.
- Holland et al.: ERS/ATS technical standard on field walking tests (2014)European Respiratory Journal 44(6):1428–1446. Two tests for the 6-minute walk.
- Enright and Sherrill: reference equations for the six-minute walk in healthy adults (1998)American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 158(5):1384–1387. 290 healthy adults aged 40 to 80.
Sources checked by SoloTrainer.net · 25 Sep