title: Effects of home-based tele-exercise on sarcopenia among community-dwelling elderly adults: Body composition and functional fitness.
abstract: This study aims to develop a form of tele-exercise that would enable real-time interactions between exercise instructors and community-dwelling elderly people and to investigate its effects on improvement of sarcopenia-related factors of body composition and functional fitness among the elderly.
  
  
  
  Randomized, controlled trial, with a 12-week intervention period.
  
  
  
  Community-dwelling senior citizens in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
  
  
  
  The participants were 23 elderly individuals (tele-exercise group: 11, control group: 12), aged 69 to 93years.
  
  
  
  The tele-exercise program was developed utilizing a 15-in. all-in-one PC and video conferencing software (Skype™), with broadband Internet connectivity. The tele-exercise group performed supervised resistance exercise at home for 20-40min a day three times per week for 12weeks. The remote instructor provided one-on-one instruction to each participant during the intervention. The control group maintained their lifestyles without any special intervention.
  
  
  
  The sarcopenia-related factors of body composition and functional fitness were examined prior to, as well as following, a 12-week intervention period. The data were analyzed with a two-way repeated measures ANOVA.
  
  
  
  There were significant improvements in lower limb muscle mass (p=0.017), appendicular lean soft tissue (p=0.032), total muscle mass (p=0.033), and chair sit-and-reach length (p=0.019) for the tele-exercise group compared to the control group. No group×time interaction effects were detected for the 2-min step, chair stand, and time effects (p<0.05).
  
  
  
  Video conferencing-based supervised resistance exercise had positive effects on sarcopenia-related factors such as total-body skeletal muscle mass, appendicular lean soft tissue, lower limb muscle mass, and the chair sit-and-reach scores among community-dwelling elderly adults. These results imply that tele-exercise can be a new and effective intervention method for increasing skeletal muscle mass and the physical functioning of the lower limbs from the perspective of sarcopenia improvement among the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical & Biological Engineering, Medical Research Center, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 71 IhwaJang-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03087, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Seoul National University Hospital, 101 Daehak-Ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: hongjee1023@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jeeyoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Seoul National University, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kim0424@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jeongeun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, 101 Daehak-Ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kimsw@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Suk Wha
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Munhwa-ro 266, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chungnam National University Hospital, Munhwa-ro 282, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: gongcop@cnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hyoun-Joong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001823:Body Composition; D005080:Exercise Test; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D009929:Organ Size; D020127:Recovery of Function; D056910:Republic of Korea; D055948:Sarcopenia / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012984:Software; D000069350:Telerehabilitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D049269:Videoconferencing
keywords: Elderly exercise; Functional fitness; Resistance exercise; Sarcopenia; Skeletal muscle mass; Supervised exercise; Tele-exercise; Tele-physiotherapy; Telegeriatrics