medmeters.
How it works · One real clinical protocol

One standard test.
One useful clinical record.

See how MedMeters is designed to support the CDC STEADI 30-Second Chair Stand Test — from a standard setup and camera capture to a clinician-reviewed count, a comparison with earlier results, and an EHR-ready record.

See the CDC protocol ↘See CV measurement ↘

Illustrative product workflow, not a functioning measurement service. Official source: CDC STEADI 30-Second Chair Stand assessment ↗

Older adult carrying out a chair-stand test while a clinician observes in a physiotherapy clinic
ILLUSTRATIVE MEASUREMENT30-Second Chair StandSame protocol · repeat visit
12full stands / 30 s
+3 vs baseline
See the sample clinical report ↗Explore a clinical design pilot ↗Illustrative workflow · Not live video analysis
01 / The established clinical standard

The protocol comes first. The camera supports it.

CDC STEADI specifies a standardized test of lower-body strength and endurance. MedMeters would preserve these rules and separately validate its proposed camera setup.

30 sDefined measurement window
17 inChair seat height · 43.2 cm
StandsCount of completed repetitions
Published CDC procedure

What happens during the clinical test

  • Use a straight-back chair without armrests, with a 17-inch seat height, and a stopwatch.
  • The patient sits in the middle, feet flat, back straight, arms crossed at the wrists against the chest.
  • At “Go,” the patient stands fully and sits back down repeatedly for 30 seconds.
  • Count each full stand; if the patient is more than halfway up at the end, count that final stand.
  • CDC instructs the clinician to stand next to the patient for safety. If arm use is required to stand, stop and record zero under this version of the protocol.
Source: CDC STEADI · official 30-Second Chair Stand instructions ↗
MedMeters proposed capture protocol

What the camera would add

  • Place a phone or tablet so that the chair, trunk, arms, hips, legs and feet remain in view.
  • Confirm camera framing, lighting, chair setup and completion criteria before recording.
  • Detect the start and end of the 30-second window and candidate full-standing events.
  • Flag potentially incomplete repetitions, arm assistance, occlusion or poor capture for clinician review.
  • Save the measurement, protocol version and setting for like-for-like repeat testing.
Important distinction: camera position and automatic event detection are proposed MedMeters features, not CDC-published video requirements. Their accuracy must be clinically validated.
02 / What the camera actually measures

From video frames to a counted clinical event.

The CDC endpoint is the number of valid full stands in 30 seconds. In a proposed CV system, body landmarks and movement events help identify candidate repetitions, and the clinician reviews exceptions.

Older patient performing a supervised chair stand while a camera records
ILLUSTRATIVE FRAMEChair Stand · 30 sOriginal example frame (not patient data)
The pose landmarks and masking are explanatory graphics — not an inference generated from this photo. This website does not access the camera.
01 / Identify

Track hips, knees, ankles and trunk

Pose estimation supplies time-series landmarks. Tracking quality and camera angle determine whether an event can be measured.

02 / Detect

Recognize a valid full standing event

Proposed state transitions help count candidates while flagging occlusion, arm use or incomplete movement for review.

03 / Document

Count repetitions and compare visits

Return the CDC count plus protocol, setting, quality notes and, on clinician request, comparable prior results.

Illustrative movement signalnot patient data
Standing events inferred from a movement trajectory; actual detector would require validation.
Peer-reviewed evidence · June 2026

Researchers have already tested this exact approach with ordinary smartphone video.

Hsu et al. analyzed two 30-second chair-stand recordings from 32 older adults, captured with an iPhone 8 at 1080p/60fps. Their Keypoint R-CNN model extracted 17 body landmarks and derived movement features, demonstrating feasibility of smartphone-based kinematic analysis. It was a small research cohort, not validation of MedMeters.

Original study · DOI ↗Read our research review ↗
32older adults
in external study
03 / Inside the workflow

From a test order to a reviewable result.

Select each stage to see what MedMeters would do. This is an interactive walkthrough of a proposed workflow; it does not access a camera or process any patient data.

MedMeters · guided assessmentPRODUCT CONCEPT
01 / REQUEST

Choose 30-Second Chair Stand

A clinician requests the CDC-based test in the context of a visit or a care plan, with a patient reference and reason for assessment.

30sCDC STEADI test

Record: test identity, protocol version and planned setting.

The proposed system would retain measurement provenance and clearly label any result awaiting clinician confirmation.
04 / Longitudinal measurement

One visit is a measurement. Repeat visits reveal the trajectory.

If requested by the clinician, MedMeters would compare the current count with earlier assessments performed under comparable conditions. Numerical change is shown separately from clinical interpretation.

Illustrative patient record · no real data

30-Second Chair Stand

Baseline9
Visit 210
Today12
+3 stands from baseline · numeric change only
Baseline
Visit 2
Today

Example data. The clinician determines whether the change exceeds expected variability or is clinically meaningful.

What the clinician can review

  • Raw count and any attempted-but-invalid stands.
  • Chair height, arm use, assistance, test duration and capture-quality flags.
  • Current and earlier counts with explicit comparability checks.
  • Protocol version and a link to authorized evidence, if retained.
  • Clinician-approved report and a patient-friendly explanation.

Privacy by design: for this test, the system could blur visible identifiers on-device when clinically appropriate, while keeping the body movement needed for measurement. Video masking does not guarantee anonymity.

Clinical boundary: MedMeters must not diagnose fall risk based on an unvalidated camera-derived score.

04 / EHR-ready result structure

A number the care team can actually use.

The measurement can be modeled as a FHIR Observation for systems that support the necessary API permissions. The established LOINC term for the number of 30-second stands is 66247-8. This is a data-model illustration, not a live EHR integration.

FHIR Observation · simplified conceptual excerpt
{
  "resourceType": "Observation",
  "status": "preliminary",
  "code": {
    "coding": [{
      "system": "http://loinc.org",
      "code": "66247-8",
      "display": "Total number of stands executed in 30 seconds"
    }]
  },
  "valueQuantity": {
    "value": 12,
    "unit": "stands / 30 s",
    "system": "http://unitsofmeasure.org",
    "code": "{#}/(30.s)"
  }
}

Clinical context is part of the output

A production-grade exchange also needs a secured patient and encounter reference, timing, instrument version, capture setting, quality flags and clinician confirmation.

The goal is to return an approved measurement inside the existing medical record rather than make the clinician copy values into another system.

Integration models ↗
Clinical coding: LOINC 66247-8 ↗. Framework: HL7 FHIR Observation ↗.
05 / Where this test fits

In the clinic first. Selected remote workflows later.

The published CDC procedure requires a clinician beside the patient for safety. A self-administered video at home would need additional selection criteria and a separately evaluated adaptation; it must not be presented as an identical CDC-compliant assessment.

Clinic · standard first

Clinician-led assessment

The clinician supervises the patient, makes the safety decision, confirms valid standing events and approves the record.

Explore clinical workflows ↗
Home · future adapted workflow

Remote follow-up for eligible patients

Only after clinical screening and protocol-specific safeguards; some patients need a physically present helper. Remote observation alone cannot prevent a fall.

Read remote-testing research ↗
MedMeters for care teams

Standardize the test. Make progress reviewable.

Build with clinicians first, validate the measurement, then integrate it into the systems they already use.

See who MedMeters serves ↗