title: A comparison of the effects of different water exercise programs on balance ability in elderly people.
abstract: This study compared the effects of 2 types of water exercise programs on balance ability in the elderly. Thirty healthy elderly persons (60.7 +/- 4.1 yr) were randomly assigned to a deep-water-running exercise (DWRE, n = 15) group or a normal water exercise (NWE, n = 15) group. The participants completed a twice-weekly water exercise intervention for 12 wk. Exercise sessions comprised a 10-min warm-up on land, 20 min of water-walking exercise, 30 min of water exercise while separated into NWE and DWRE, a 10-min rest on land, and 10 min of recreation and relaxation in water. Postural-sway distance and tandem-walking time were decreased significantly in DWRE. Postural-sway area was decreased significantly in NWE. In both groups, simple reaction times were significantly decreased. The findings of this study show that a water exercise program including deep-water running is much better than normal water exercise for improving dynamic balance ability in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneda
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hanai
authors.forename: Takeo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nomura
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006875:Hydrotherapy; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D016730:Program Development; D011930:Reaction Time; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water