| Keywords |
Functional fitness ; Quality of life ; Hydraulic resistance exercise ; Frail elderly |
| Abstract |
This study was to evaluate the effectiveness of hydraulic resistance exercise (HDRE) for frail elderly. Forty five participants were divided into exercise group (79±7.6 yr, 11 men, 14 women), and control group (76±7.9 yr, 11 men, 9 women). An exercise group was trained by 6 types of exercise: Knee extension (KE), knee flexion (KF), chest press (CPr), chest pull (CPu), low back flexion (LF), and low back extension (LE) 2 days/week. HDRE was consisted of 12-week supervised program, 50 min/day, and one set with an appropriate loading for 15 repetitions to fatigue. As a results, muscle strength and power were significantly increased between 16.6~27.1% and 18.9~81.2% in the KE, KF, CPr, CPu, and LF (p < .05). The functional fitness were also increased about 19~43% except for sit & reach test, and health related quality of life were improved about 15~24% in the sf-36v2 test (p<.05). However, there were no significant changes in the control group, and the HDRE is an effective form of resistance training that provides benefits using low and moderate intensity of training for frail elderly. |