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Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology pp 1–3Cite as

6-Minute Walk Test

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Synonyms

6MWD; 6MWT

Description

The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) measures the distance (6MWD) that a person can quickly walk on a flat, hard surface in 6 min. The test is submaximal and self-paced, with rest breaks allowed as needed.

Historical Background

Historically, aerobic functional capacity has been evaluated by asking a person “how many flights of stairs can you climb?” or “how many blocks can you walk?” Due to poor reliability and validity of such questioning, more objective methods have been established. In 1963, Balke created a simple test of the distance a person could walk in a specified amount of time. In 1968, Cooper described a 12 min overground walking test for healthy individuals, which was adapted for patients with chronic bronchitis in 1976. The 6MWT was created to accommodate persons with respiratory disease for whom a 12 min span was excessive. The test has been adopted for use for persons with a wide range of different cardiopulmonary diseases as well as orthopedic...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 670394, Cincinnati, OH, 45267-0394, USA

    Kari Dunning

  2. Inter-Hospital Research & Knowledge Translation, Rusk Rehabilitation, 240 East 38th Street, 17-48, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Tamara Bushnik

Authors
  1. Kari Dunning
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  2. Tamara Bushnik
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kari Dunning .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Richmond, Virgin Islands, USA

    Jeffrey Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation , West Orange, New Jersey, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Suite 200 , Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Dunning, K., Bushnik, T. (2017). 6-Minute Walk Test. In: Kreutzer, J., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1964-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1964-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

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