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Functional Assessments for Aging Well
At Blue Skies Nursing, much of what we do is centered around one question: How can we help our clients continue living the life they want to live as they age?
The answer looks different for everyone. For one person, the goal may be continuing to hike, ski or travel. For another, it may be walking the dog, navigating stairs safely or simply continuing to live independently at home. That is why Blue Skies Nursing is introducing a new service: Individualized Functional Assessments for Aging Adults.
Rather than waiting for a problem to occur, this assessment gives us an opportunity to understand where someone is today, establish an objective baseline and create meaningful goals for the future.
A Different Kind of Functional Assessment
When people hear “functional assessment,” they often think about evaluating whether an older adult can manage basic activities such as dressing, bathing or safely moving around the home. Those things are important, but this assessment goes further by looking at the physical abilities that help someone continue doing the activities they value.
Our new Physical Therapist, Kim Miles, completed additional education in 2014 through the APTA Section on Geriatrics to become a Certified Exercise Expert for Aging Adults (CEEAA). This training provided her with an extensive range of evidence-based, objective tests designed specifically to evaluate the fitness and functional abilities of aging adults. These tools help us look more closely at areas such as strength, mobility, balance and endurance.
What Does the Assessment Look Like?
The assessment is individualized based on each person's current abilities, health considerations and goals. Rather than putting everyone through the same series of tests, we select measures that will provide useful information for that particular person.
For example, we might assess balance and mobility by timing how long it takes someone to stand from a chair, walk a short distance, turn and sit back down. Strength can be evaluated by measuring how many times someone can safely rise from a chair, while endurance may be assessed by seeing how far someone can comfortably walk in a set amount of time. These are simple activities, but the results can tell us a great deal about how someone is functioning.
Many of these tests also have established norms for older adults. This allows us to move beyond saying someone “seems to be doing well” and instead use objective information to identify strengths, potential concerns and areas for improvement.
Sometimes a simple walk across the room can tell us much more than we think.
Your Baseline Becomes Your Starting Point
Too often, function isn't measured until something changes. A person falls, is hospitalized or begins having more difficulty with everyday activities, and suddenly everyone is trying to determine how much function has been lost.
Establishing a baseline before that happens gives us something valuable to compare with in the future. It can also help us today by identifying areas where improving balance, strength or endurance may help someone remain active and independent.
Knowing where you are today makes it much easier to plan for where you want to be tomorrow.
Fun, Function, Frail and Failure
One concept used in CEEAA education looks at physical ability along a continuum: Fun, Function, Frail and Failure. At the “Fun” end, someone has enough physical reserve not only to manage daily life but also to enjoy recreation and other activities. As we move along the continuum, everyday activities require more effort, physical reserves decrease and eventually more assistance may be needed.
This isn't about labeling someone as “fun” or “frail.” It is a framework for understanding where a person is today and considering where they want to remain—or where there may be an opportunity to improve.
If you're doing well, how can we help you stay there? If you've noticed changes, what can we address now? If you're recovering from a health event, what is a realistic goal for getting back to the things you enjoy?
Goals That Actually Make Sense for You
This is where we believe the assessment becomes especially valuable. A score or test result by itself isn't the goal. We want to connect those findings to a much more important question:
What do you want to be able to do?
Maybe you want to keep skiing into your 80s, comfortably walk around Europe on an upcoming trip, or continue living independently in your own home. Those are very different goals, and they should result in different plans.
If endurance is limiting your ability to travel, we know what to work on. If balance is affecting your confidence at home, we can address it. If leg strength is making stairs difficult, we have something measurable to target.
Instead of exercising simply because someone says you “should,” we can ask a much more motivating question: What are you training for?
A Tool for Prevention, Not Just Rehabilitation
Physical Therapy is often associated with rehabilitation after an injury, surgery or medical event, but there is tremendous value in being proactive. Changes in strength, balance and endurance can happen gradually, and people often adjust without realizing it.
Maybe you start taking the elevator instead of the stairs, walk shorter distances or stop participating in an activity because it feels harder than it used to. Individually, these changes may not seem significant, but over time they can quietly make your world smaller.
A functional assessment can help identify these changes earlier, when there may be an opportunity to address them. It can also confirm that someone is functioning very well and provide a baseline we can work to maintain.
Designed Around the Individual
This assessment can be useful for an active, independent adult who wants to maintain a high level of fitness, someone beginning to notice changes in mobility, or an individual living with a condition such as Parkinson's disease, stroke or vestibular dysfunction.
The tests and goals will look different for each person. An 82-year-old who wants to continue hiking has very different needs from an 82-year-old whose priority is safely navigating their home.
Successful aging shouldn't be defined by someone else's standard.
Measure. Plan. Reassess.
Another benefit of functional testing is that selected measures can be repeated over time. We can establish a baseline, develop meaningful goals and then reassess to see whether walking, balance or strength has actually improved.
The numbers help us measure progress, but ultimately there is a more important measure of success:
Are you able to do more of what matters to you?
What Does Aging Well Look Like to You?
At Blue Skies Nursing, we don't believe aging well has one definition. It may mean continuing to travel and enjoy the outdoors, maintaining a favorite hobby, or simply feeling confident and independent in your own home.
Our new Functional Assessment for Aging Adults is designed to help turn those goals into something measurable and actionable. We look at where you are today, talk about where you want to be in the future and help develop a plan that makes sense for you. Because aging well is about maintaining the ability to live the life that matters to you.
Call us for a free consultation at 970-200-8385 to schedule this new Functional Assessment Test so you can be “Fun” in your older years.
Together... we've got this!
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