Journal ArticleDOI
Reducing Frailty and Falls in Older Persons: An Investigation of Tai Chi and Computerized Balance Training
Steven L. Wolf,Huiman X. Barnhart,Nancy G. Kutner,Elizabeth McNeely,Carol Coogler,Tingsen Xu +5 more
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TLDR
The effects of two exercise approaches, Tai Chi and computerized balance training, on specified primary outcomes (biomedical, functional, and psychosocial indicators of frailty) and secondary outcomes (occurrence of falls) are evaluated.Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of two exercise approaches, Tai Chi (TC) and computerized balance training (BT), on specified primary outcomes (biomedical, functional, and psychosocial indicators of frailty) and secondary outcomes (occurrence of falls).
DESIGN: The Atlanta FICSIT (Frailty and Injuries: Cooperative Studies of Intervention Techniques), a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial with three arms (TC, BT, and education [ED]). Intervention length was 15 weeks, with primary outcomes measured before and after intervention and at 4-month follow-up. Falls were monitored continuously throughout the study.
SETTING: Persons aged 70 and older living in the community.
PARTICIPANTS: A total of 200 participants, 162 women and 38 men; mean age was 76.2.
MEASUREMENTS: Biomedical (strength, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, body composition), functional (IADL), and psychosocial well-being (CES-D scale, fear of falling questionnaire, self-perception of present and future health, mastery index, perceived quality of sleep, and intrusiveness) variables.
RESULTS: Grip strength declined in all groups, and lower extremity range of motion showed limited but statistically significant changes. Lowered blood pressure before and after a 12-minute walk was seen following TC participation. Fear of falling responses and intrusiveness responses were reduced after the TC intervention compared with the ED group (P = .046 and P = .058, respectively). After adjusting for fall risk factors, TC was found to reduce the risk of multiple falls by 47.5%.
CONCLUSIONS: A moderate TC intervention can impact favorably on defined biomedical and psychosocial indices of frailty. This intervention can also have favorable effects upon the occurrence of falls. Tai Chi warrants further study as an exercise treatment to improve the health of older people.read more
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Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence
TL;DR: It is revealed that the current Health Canada physical activity guidelines are sufficient to elicit health benefits, especially in previously sedentary people, and that a further increase in physical activity and fitness will lead to additional improvements in health status.
Journal ArticleDOI
Exercise and physical activity for older adults
Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko,David N. Proctor,Maria A. Fiatarone Singh,Christopher T. Minson,Claudio R. Nigg,George J. Salem,James S. Skinner +6 more
TL;DR: The evidence reviewed in this Position Stand is generally consistent with prior American College of Sports Medicine statements on the types and amounts of physical activity recommended for older adults as well as the recently published 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.
Journal ArticleDOI
Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community
Lesley D Gillespie,Mary Clare Robertson,William J Gillespie,Catherine Sherrington,Simon Gates,Lindy Clemson,Sarah E Lamb +6 more
TL;DR: These interventions were more effective in people at higher risk of falling, including those with severe visual impairment, and home safety interventions appear to be more effective when delivered by an occupational therapist.
Journal ArticleDOI
Guideline for the Prevention of Falls in Older Persons
Journal ArticleDOI
Gait variability and fall risk in community-living older adults: A 1-year prospective study
TL;DR: Findings show both the feasibility of obtaining stride-to-stride measures of gait timing in the ambulatory setting and the potential use ofgait variability measures in augmenting the prospective evaluation of fall risk in community-living older adults.
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TL;DR: Results indicate that individuals' coping interventions are most effective when dealing with problems within the close interpersonal role areas of marriage and child-rearing and least effective when deals with the more impersonal problems found in occupation.
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Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living
M. P. Lawton,Elmne M. Brody +1 more
TL;DR: Two scales first standardized on their own population are presented, one of which taps a level of functioning heretofore inadequately represented in attempts to assess everyday functional competence, and the other taps a schema of competence into which these behaviors fit.
Journal ArticleDOI
Exercise training and nutritional supplementation for physical frailty in very elderly people
Maria A. Fiatarone,Evelyn F. O'Neill,Nancy D. Ryan,Karen M. Clements,Guido R. Solares,Miriam E. Nelson,Susan B. Roberts,Joseph J. Kehayias,Lewis A. Lipsitz,William J. Evans +9 more
TL;DR: High-intensity resistance exercise training is a feasible and effective means of counteracting muscle weakness and physical frailty in very elderly people, in contrast to multi-nutrient supplementation without concomitant exercise, which does not reduce muscle weakness orPhysical frailty.