Wie lange Sie auf einem Bein stehen können, misst die Gleichgewichtssysteme, die Sie aufrecht und unabhängig halten. Dabei kommen gleichzeitig Ihr Innenohr, Ihre Gelenke, Ihre Augen und Ihre Beinkraft zum Einsatz, sodass ein kurzer Test den Zustand des gesamten Körpers widerspiegelt. Die Zeit nimmt mit dem Alter ab, aber das Gleichgewicht gehört zu den am besten trainierbaren Systemen überhaupt.
Es reagiert schnell auf wenige Minuten täglicher Übung nahe an der eigenen Grenze – ohne Geräte und ohne etwas kaufen zu müssen. Ein stabileres Gleichgewicht sagt weniger schwere Stürze voraus, und diese Zahl können Sie beeinflussen.
Findings & Outcomes
What The Test Is
The one-leg stand test is how long you can balance on a single leg before you put the other foot down or reach for support. It draws on three sensory systems at once: the inner ear, the position sense coming up from your joints and the soles of your feet, and your eyes. Holding steady also takes the strength to lock a hip and ankle in place. One brief test captures the whole system. Measuring the same thing any other way takes far more equipment.
The test belongs to a family of home self-checks on the self-measures hub, alongside walking speed, grip strength and the chair stand. Poor balance is one of the strongest predictors of a fall. Training it is covered on the balance and fall prevention page.
Taking The Test
Set up so a stumble is safe. Stand barefoot or in flat shoes on a firm floor, beside a kitchen counter, doorframe or heavy chair you can grab instantly. Rest a finger on the support between attempts, and keep your hand off it while the clock runs.
For the eyes-open test, fix your gaze on a point about 6 feet (2 meters) ahead at eye level. Let your arms relax at your sides, and lift one foot clear of the floor. Start a stopwatch as you lift. Stop it the moment the raised foot touches down, you grab the support, or the standing foot shifts. Take the better of two or three attempts on each leg. Note the side, since most people differ between legs.
The eyes-closed test uses the same position with the eyes shut, and it is much harder. Removing sight forces you onto the inner ear and the joint sense alone, so the times drop sharply. Try it only once the eyes-open version is comfortable, and keep a hand hovering beside the support, where most people lose balance without warning. A few seconds with eyes closed is common and normal, more so with age.
Age Targets
Read your time against your own age band; the absolute seconds mean little without it. Through midlife and into later life, a comfortable 10-second eyes-open stand is the age-independent reassurance point, and the target shifts down each decade. Healthy younger adults hold the position far longer, often well beyond 30 seconds. Eyes-closed times collapse to a fraction of that at every age. Normative reference values confirm the steady age-related decline in both conditions, and find no meaningful difference between men and women.
What Your Time Means
A short stance time predicts a higher death rate, and more specifically more injurious falls, the kind that break a hip and end independence. The test is useful precisely because it is so broad. That same breadth is why a low score points to no single cause. A short time tells you the whole system is struggling, but not which part is weak.
Both the death-rate and the falls findings come from observational studies, so both carry the same catch. A short stance partly flags people who are already ill, weak, or changing in ways they cannot yet feel. So the score shows the body's current state as much as it predicts the future. Balancing longer on command does not by itself extend life. A low time is a reason to look for a fixable cause and to act on it.
The Research & Studies
Everything here is based on the research we have collected and checked, sorted into groups and ordered with the strongest evidence first. Click any claim to open the studies behind it.
Balance And Falls
Balance training made older adults steadier on every test across 23 trials, most in catching a wobble (SMD 1.73)
Across 23 trials in healthy older adults, practising balance made people measurably steadier on every kind of balance test, with the largest gains in catching a predicted or sudden wobble.
This systematic review and meta-analysis screened 345 articles and pooled 23 randomized controlled trials of balance training in healthy community-dwelling adults aged 65 and over, using a random-effects model against passive controls. Weighted standardized mean differences favored training for static steady-state balance (0.51), dynamic steady-state balance (0.44), proactive balance, meaning anticipation of a predicted perturbation (1.73), and reactive balance, meaning recovery from an unpredicted one (1.01). The review also mapped dose, so a reader can see that regular short sessions accumulate the effect.
Who this may not transfer to:The pooled trials enrolled both sexes; balance training is studied and used in men and women alike, with no evidence the response differs by sex.
Because balance responds to being challenged, the way to raise your stance time is to train near your limit at a support you can grab: narrow the base, shift onto one leg, then add head turns or eyes closed as each level becomes easy, not simply holding the same easy position for longer.
The study · 1
Lesinski et al., effects of balance training on balance performance in healthy older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis · Sports Med 2015;45(12):1721-1738
Balance-focused exercise cut the rate of falls 23% across 108 trials and 23,407 older adults
Pooling 108 trials in more than 23,000 older adults, exercise that challenges balance cut how often people fell by about a quarter, the firmest finding in this whole area.
This Cochrane review included 108 randomized controlled trials with 23,407 community-dwelling participants (mean age 76, 77% women). Exercise of all types reduced the rate of falls by 23% (rate ratio 0.77, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.83; 59 studies; high-certainty evidence) and reduced the number of people experiencing one or more falls by 15% (risk ratio 0.85, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.89; high-certainty). The effect was driven by programs that challenge balance, including tai chi, not by strength work alone, which links the modifiable side of a poor stance time to a measured drop in real falls.
Who this may not transfer to:The pooled trials were 77% women, reflecting who enrols in fall-prevention research; the effect is consistent enough that it is applied to both sexes, though the male estimate rests on fewer participants.
The single-leg stand is a readout, and the lever behind it is regular balance-focused practice; roughly three hours a week of balance challenge, reachable in short daily doses at a counter, is where the fall-prevention trials show the largest effect.
The study · 1
Sherrington et al., exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community · Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2019;1:CD012424
Progress Markers
Unable to hold a 5-second one-leg stand, about twice the injurious-fall rate (RR 2.13)
In 316 older adults followed for three years, those who could not balance on one leg for even 5 seconds were about twice as likely to have a fall that caused injury, and balance was the single strongest predictor of injurious falls in the study.
The Albuquerque Falls Study followed 316 healthy community-living volunteers over 60 (mean age 73) for 3 years, recording falls every other month. At baseline 84.5% could stand on one leg for 5 seconds. Over follow-up 71% fell and 22% had an injurious fall. In logistic regression, age over 73 was the only independent predictor of all falls, but impaired one-leg balance was the only independent predictor of injurious falls (relative risk 2.13, 95% CI 1.04 to 4.34, p=0.03). The authors stress that no single factor is accurate enough to be used alone, because many diverse factors drive falling.
The study · 1
Vellas et al., one-leg balance is an important predictor of injurious falls in older persons · J Am Geriatr Soc 1997;45(6):735-738
Short one-leg stance time lines up with falls and daily-living decline, and lengthens with training
Reviewing the research on the one-leg stand, it lines up with real-world troubles like falls and losing the ability to manage daily tasks, and it gets better with training, which is why it works as a quick frailty check.
This review examined the one-leg standing test as a marker of musculoskeletal ambulation disability, a condition defined by Japanese medical societies to flag deterioration of the movement system. It covered testing procedures and reference values, associations between stance time and negative events, and improvement of stance time with intervention. Observational studies linked shorter times to falls, declines in activities of daily living and other morbidity, and stance times improved with several interventions. The authors conclude the test can serve as a frailty marker, while cautioning that measured times vary widely because procedures differ between studies and that they did not grade the evidence level of each included study.
The study · 1
Michikawa et al., one-leg standing test for elderly populations · J Orthop Sci 2009;14(5):675-685
A failed 10-second one-leg stand predicted 1.84 times the death rate over 7 years
In a Brazilian clinic study of more than 1,700 people aged 51 to 75, the one in five who could not hold a 10-second stand on one leg were roughly twice as likely to die over the next seven years, and 17.5% of them died against 4.6% of those who could hold it.
The CLINIMEX exercise-medicine cohort assessed a 10-second one-legged stance in 1,702 individuals (68% men) aged 51 to 75 between 2008 and 2020. About 20.4% could not complete it. Over a median 7-year follow-up, 7.2% died overall, split 4.6% among those who passed and 17.5% among those who failed. In a Cox model adjusted for age, sex, body mass index and comorbidities, inability to complete the test carried a hazard ratio of 1.84 (95% CI 1.23 to 2.78, p<0.001), and it improved discrimination beyond established risk factors. The authors flag uncontrolled variables such as recent falls and physical activity.
Who this may not transfer to:The sample was 68% men from a single self-referred exercise-medicine clinic, so it skews male and toward people already engaged with their fitness; the association in women rests on a smaller subgroup.
The study · 1
Araujo et al., successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals · Br J Sports Med 2022;56(17):975-980
A one-leg stand under 20 seconds tracked silent brain small-vessel disease and lower cognition in 1,387 adults
In nearly 1,400 apparently healthy adults, a shorter one-leg stand tracked with silent early brain changes on MRI and with lower cognitive scores, suggesting the test reads brain health as well as leg strength.
The Japan Shimanami cross-sectional study assessed one-leg standing time and posturography in 1,387 middle-aged to elderly people from a general population, with brain MRI for cerebral small-vessel disease (periventricular hyperintensity, lacunar infarction, microbleeds) and a computer-based cognitive screen. The frequency of a short stand (under 20 seconds) increased linearly with disease severity. Short stance time stayed associated with lacunar infarction (p=0.009) and microbleeds (p=0.003) after adjustment, and with reduced cognitive function (p=0.002) independent of the small-vessel disease itself. Posturography parameters were not independently associated with the brain findings.
The study · 1
Tabara et al., association of postural instability with asymptomatic cerebrovascular damage and cognitive decline: the Japan Shimanami study · Stroke 2015;46(1):16-22
Measurement And Diagnosis
Across 549 healthy adults, one-leg stance time falls with age and drops sharply with eyes closed, alike in both sexes
In 549 healthy people, how long you can stand on one leg drops steadily with age, closing your eyes shortens it dramatically at any age, and men and women scored about the same.
This normative study measured the unipedal stance test in 549 healthy adults aged 18 and over, across six age bands, with eyes open and eyes closed, taking the best of three trials. Stance time decreased significantly with age in both conditions, and eyes-closed times were much shorter than eyes-open times throughout, because removing vision forces reliance on the vestibular and proprioceptive systems alone. Inter-rater reliability was excellent (ICC 0.994 eyes open, 0.998 eyes closed). Performance was age-specific and not related to sex, so the sensible comparison is to your own age band, not to a single figure.
Who this may not transfer to:The study reported both sexes and found performance was not related to sex, so the age bands apply to men and women alike.
The study · 1
Springer et al., normative values for the unipedal stance test with eyes open and closed · J Geriatr Phys Ther 2007;30(1):8-15
How it works
Balance blends signals from the feet, the inner ear and the eyes, so one stance reads several systems at once
Standing on one leg is not one muscle doing the work; the brain blends signals from your feet and joints, your inner ear and your eyes, which is why the test reads several systems at once and why closing your eyes makes it so much harder.
This review describes postural control as the interaction of dynamic sensorimotor processes serving two goals: postural orientation, aligning the body to gravity, the support surface and the visual surround, and postural equilibrium, coordinating movement to keep the center of mass stable during expected and unexpected disturbances. Sensory information from the somatosensory, vestibular and visual systems is integrated, with the relative weight on each input depending on the task and environment. Anticipatory postural adjustments precede voluntary movement, and the amount of cognitive processing required rises with task difficulty. Damage to any underlying system produces its own context-specific instability, which is why one brief test cannot localize a cause.
The study · 1
Horak, postural orientation and equilibrium: what do we need to know about neural control of balance to prevent falls? · Age Ageing 2006;35 Suppl 2:ii7-ii11
Sharper sensation in the sole of the foot went with a longer one-leg stand in 1,659 older adults
In more than 1,600 older adults, people whose feet could feel light touch better also stood longer on one leg, which fits the idea that balance leans on the sensory signals coming up from the soles.
This cross-sectional study measured plantar cutaneous sensation thresholds with an automatic testing device in 1,659 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 74, 43% male) and related them to one-leg standing time, five-time sit-to-stand time, grip strength and gait speed. After adjusting for confounders, the plantar sensation threshold was independently associated with one-leg standing time (p=0.001) and sit-to-stand time (p=0.001), but not with normal gait speed (p=0.741). Age, sex, body mass index and leg phase angle, but not skeletal muscle mass index or grip strength, were associated with the sensation threshold itself.
Who this may not transfer to:The sample was 43% male, reasonably balanced; findings are reported for the whole cohort, not split by sex.
The study · 1
Kato et al., plantar cutaneous sensation is independently associated with postural balance and lower limb motor function in older adults: the Shizuoka study · Eur Geriatr Med 2025;16(2):625-634
Raising Your Time
Across 23 randomized trials in healthy older adults, balance training improved every kind of balance test. The biggest gains came in recovering from a wobble, whether you saw it coming or not. Balance improves when you challenge it, so practice near your limit at a support you can grab.
- Narrow your stance to feet together, then heel-to-toe.
- Shift onto a single leg with one finger on the counter.
- Progress by taking your finger off the support once a hold feels easy.
- Add head turns side to side, then the eyes-closed version, as each level becomes easy.
Leg and hip strength hold the stance steady, so single-leg work like step-ups and slow sit-to-stands builds the strength behind it. Tai chi and qi gong is a well-studied movement practice, and its weight transfer and rooted stance train the same balance components. Regular balance-focused exercise, roughly three hours a week reached in short daily doses, is what the fall-prevention trials show cuts real falls. Fewer falls and a longer stance improve together because the same training produces both.
Go Deeper
- Self-measures hub: the single-leg stand alongside walking speed, grip strength, the chair stand and blood pressure, each with the protocol its numbers came from.
- Balance and fall prevention: the practice behind the number, how to train it safely, and the causes of falls that are not in the legs at all.
- Tai chi and qi gong: the movement practice with the most randomized evidence for balance in older adults.
- Grip strength: the other quick whole-body readout, a marker of overall strength.
Doing The Test Safely
Everything to be aware of is here, in one place. This practice suits most healthy people; a few situations call for real care.
Do it within reach of something solid
Keep a solid support within reach and clear the floor of anything loose. Have someone in the room if you feel at all unsteady. If you would not attempt a single-leg stance beside a counter, get assessed by a physiotherapist. Anyone who has fallen in the past year should not test balance alone.
Stop if you feel dizzy or lightheaded
Balancing with eyes closed in particular can bring on a moment of dizziness. Put the foot down, hold the support and wait for it to pass. Feeling faint, a spinning room, chest pressure, sudden breathlessness, or a fast or irregular heartbeat during the test means stop. Seek medical advice; do not push through.
A sudden loss of balance or new neurological signs need a clinician
A gradual change over months fits normal aging and training. Balance that drops suddenly, or unsteadiness with slurred speech, one-sided weakness or numbness, double vision, or a severe new headache, points to something other than aging. Seek urgent medical attention. New numbness in both feet, or violent spinning for seconds when you roll over in bed, should be raised with a doctor. Both have specific, treatable causes.
Read a low score as a prompt, not a diagnosis
The test loads the whole balance system at once. A short time is a reason to train, and to review medications, vision and blood pressure with a doctor. It is not evidence of any single disease.
Start slow, be smart, read the research, and consult a professional if you have any concerns. This is here to inform your choice, not make it for you.
Common Questions
Does a low score mean something is wrong with my brain?
In nearly 1,400 adults, a shorter one-leg standing time lined up with small-vessel changes on MRI and with lower cognition scores, independent of those brain findings. That makes the test a shared marker of brain and body aging, one reading that tracks both at once.
What does failing the 10-second test say about how long I will live?
In 1,702 adults aged 51 to 75, those who could not complete a 10-second stand had 1.84 times the death rate over about seven years. The test added information beyond age, sex, body mass index and existing conditions, so a failed 10-second stand flags real risk without naming a disease.
Explore Related
Other pages this one connects to, by the evidence they share, the outcomes they touch, and the ground they cover.
All 9 sources on this page independently checked and cross-referenced.
Thomas Dehli, Founder & Editor, Sacred Lotus
Sacred Lotus has published Chinese medicine reference material since 2001. Integrative pages are held to the same standard as the herb and formula library: cite the source, grade the claim at its real strength, and say where the research has not looked. This page is educational and it is not medical advice. Last reviewed and updated August 10, 2026.
Evidence strength
How confidently the research supports a claim. Strength describes the evidence, not our endorsement.