Muscle function and functional ability improves more in community-dwelling older women with a mixed-strength training programme.
BACKGROUND
Supervised training can reach a limited number of elderly people.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the impact of a 1-year mixed-strength training programme on muscle function (MF), functional ability (FA) and physical activity (PA).


METHODS
Twice-a-week hospital-based exercise classes and a once-a-week home session.


METHODS
twenty-eight healthy community-dwelling men and women on the training programme and 20 controls aged over 75 years.


METHODS
Training with two multi-gym machines for the lower limbs at 60% of the repetition maximum (1RM). At-home subjects used elastic bands.


METHODS
Maximum isometric strength of knee extensors (KE), ankle plantar flexors (PF), leg extensor power (LEP), functional reach (FR), chair rise 1 (CR1) and 10 times (CR10), bed rise (BR), six-minute walking test (6MWT), stair climbing (SC), get-up-and-go (GU&G), one-leg standing (1LS). PA was assessed with the Paqap questionnaire.


RESULTS
Women were significantly weaker than men at baseline: -47% for KE and -59% for PF. Training induced significant gains in MF and FA in the training females; males improved significantly only in FA. PA levels increased non-significantly (2%) in all of the training group.


CONCLUSIONS
Long-term mixed-strength programmes can improve MF and FA in elderly females, and FA in elderly males.
Capodaglio
P
P
UO Neuroriabilitazione II, Fondazione S Maugeri IRCCS, Pavia, Italy. pcapodaglio@fsm.it
Capodaglio
E M
EM
Ferri
A
A
Scaglioni
G
G
Marchi
A
A
Saibene
F
F
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D000368:Aged; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome