Harvard step test
The Harvard step test is a type of cardiac stress test for detecting and diagnosing cardiovascular disease. It also is a good measurement of fitness and a person's ability to recover after a strenuous exercise. The more quickly the heart rate returns to resting, the better shape the person is in.
It is a kind of cardiovascular endurance test. The test computes the capability to exercise continuously for extended intervals of time without tiring.
This test was developed by Lucien Brouha and his associates in 1943.
The person who is taking the test steps up and down on a platform in a cycle of one step per two seconds. The platform is at a height of about 50 cm or 20 inches. The rate of 30 steps per minute must be held up for five minutes or until exhaustion. To ensure the right speed, a metronome is used. Exhaustion is the point at which the subject cannot maintain the stepping rate for 15 seconds. The subject immediately sits down on completion of the test, and the heartbeats are counted for 1 to 1.5, 2 to 2.5, and 3 to 3.5 minutes.
The results are written down as time until exhaustion in seconds () and total heartbeats counted (). It is plotted into a simple fitness index equation:
The outcome of the equation is rated as follows:
The test was developed at Harvard University in 1943. Several modified versions of the original Harvard step test exist; an example is the Tecumseh step test. Another modified version, the Sharkey step test, was developed in the 1970s for use by the United States Forest Service at the University of Montana in Missoula.
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