It is difficult to distinguish between the effects of age and physical activity level in the functional fitness level of older adults. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of age and physical activity level on some functional fitness parameters in community-dwelling older adults.Two hundred twenty-nine elderly (111 female; 118 male) aged between 65-87 years living in the Balçova municipality region were divided into two groups: the young elderly (65-69 years old) and the elderly (70 years old or over). The "seven-day physical activity recall questionnaire" was used to estimate physical activity level (PAL). The functional fitness evaluation included the body mass index (BMI), the lower body strength (LBS), the dynamic balance, and the aerobic endurance. The young elderly were significantly worse with regard to BMI and significantly better with regard to LBS, dynamic balance, and aerobic endurance than the elderly; in contrast, PAL did not affect any of the functional fitness parameters. The young elderly showed worse BMI than the elderly when the age groups were less active. The young elderly showed better LBS and dynamic balance than the elderly when the age groups were more active. The young elderly showed significantly better aerobic endurance than the elderly in both the less and more active age groups. This study confirms that age affects functional fitness, whereas PAL generally does not. However, being more active is advantageous for the young elderly with regard to BMI, LBS, and dynamic balance.
[Purpose] This study determined the effects of age, gender, and participation on the benefits of a 6-month supervised exercise program on older adults. [Subjects and Methods] Eighty-five (37 women, 48 men) community-dwelling older adults participated. The chair sit-and-reach test, the 8-foot up-and-go test, the 6-minute walk test, the Berg Balance Scale, lower-body flexibility, dynamic balance, aerobic endurance, balance, metabolic rate, muscle strength, and position sense were evaluated. Repeated-measures of analysis of variance was performed including dependent variables of age, gender, and participation in the exercise program as dependent inter-subject factors and time of assessment as an intra-subject factor. [Results] Mean exercise participation was 29.88 ± 1.29 sessions. Flexibility, balance, position sense, and strength showed a significant main effect of time. There was a significant gender interaction for right shoulder flexion strength and knee extension strength, a significant gender-participation interaction for pre-/post-intervention measures of functional mobility, and a significant age-participation interaction for flexibility. [Conclusion] Exercise training improved outcomes after 6 months of supervised exercise, but the changes were similar regardless of participation level. Changes in strength were more pronounced in men than women.
Pain in Perspective 94percent of community dwelling adults aged 60 years or above have been found to experience pain and this number increases to 45-80% in the nursing home population with analgesics being used in 40% to 50% of residents [1,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Brown et al report higher percentage and state that more than 90% of the elderly living in the community experienced pain within the past month [6]. Given the prevalence of chronic pain, its impact on health, and its costs, which approach $100 billion annually, chronic pain represents a major public health issue [20].While the existence of acute pain remains approximately the same across the adult life span, there is an age-related increase in the prevalence of chronic pain at least until the seventh decade of life [13,15]. Approximately 57% of older adults report experiencing pain for 1 or more years compared with less than 45% of younger people. Furthermore, long-term care data indicate that over 40% of patients, who were known to have pain at an initial assessment, had worsening or severe pain at the time of the second assessment 2-6 months later [21]. Chronic musculoskeletal painChronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) is the most common, non-malignant disabling condition that affects at least one in four older people [22,23]. The most musculoskeletal pain in the joints of the upper and lower extremities, especially hips, knees, and hands, is associated with the degenerative changes of osteoarthritis. Older adults may also develop tendonitis and bursitis, as well as inflammatory joint and muscle disease [24]. The most common painful musculoskeletal conditions among older adults are osteoarthritis, low back pain, fibromyalgia, chronic shoulder pain, knee pain, myofascial pain syndrome and previous fracture sites [7,23,25].It is reported that the most common causes of pain identified in nursing home patients included arthritis and previous fractures. Arthritis alone affects well over 20 million Americans with an increase to 40 million expected by 2020. Twenty-nine percent of Medicare patients in nursing homes with a fracture in the prior 6 months suffer with daily pain [13]. Also surgical procedures are more frequently performed on older people. In the Medicare population in the United States for example, rates of total joint replacement surgery for patients with severe hip or knee osteoarthritis are more than doubled between 1988 and 1997. Over the same time period, rates of spine surgery in Medicare patients increased by 57% [23]. Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of the most common, poorly understood, and potentially disabling chronic pain condition s i n o l d e r a d u l t s [ 2 6 ] . M a n y o l d e r a d u l t s r e m a i n q u i t e functional despite CLBP, and because age-related co-morbidities often exist independently of pain, the unique impact of CLBP is unknown [27]. The Framingham Study (1992-1993 reported 63% of women pain in one or more regions, compared to 52% of men. Widespread CMP was more prevalent among women than men (15 versu...
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