How Far Can You Walk? The Football Field Test

Do you know how far you can walk before you need to stop and rest? A turtle does.

1. A block? 2. A mile? 3. The length of the mall? and back? 4. To your mail box? 5. All the aisles in your grocery store?

The problem with these is no one, including you and your doctor and the Social Security Administration, have a standard length for any of them. So … what can you do?

Use the Football Field Test:

- Find a football field with lines on it. Hint: Most schools have them. - Bring your cane or crutches or walker if you use one. - Park nearby and walk over to one corner, pausing and resting as often as you need to. - You should have both goal posts in front of you; one at a sharp angle to one side and one in the distance. You should be at the corner of an end zone. Stop and rest. - When you are ready, start walking along the long side. Keeping going down the field, turning at the corners if you get to them, until you need to stop and rest.

How Far Did You Walk? - Did you get half way along the long side? This is 60 yards, or 180 feet. - Did you walk one long side? 120 yards or 360 feet. - One long side and one short side? 173 1/2 yards, or 520 feet. - All the way around the football field? 346 2/3 yards or 1040 feet, or 1/5 of a mile.

You can go here to check the dimensions of a football field. Did you walk less than half way down the long side? Use the 10 yard markers (the lines going across the field) to tell how far you walked.

Now you have all the information you need to explain your walking limitations. Tell your primary care provider (your physician or nurse practitioner) how far you can walk without stopping to rest. Your PCP supplies the diagnoses that are limiting your walking.