Effect of a Walking Program on Functional Fitness Measures in Older Adults

Abstract

Increasing physical activity for an elderly population can have a significant effect on functional fitness and activities of daily living by increasing muscular strength, endurance, and gait speed. PURPOSE: To identify functional fitness changes on an elderly population through a 6-month walking intervention program. METHODS: Twenty one healthy, older individuals were recruited from a Senior Center (age: 72.4±6.1 yrs; height: 158.9±6.6 cm; weight: 81.1±12.7 kg; BMI: 31.9±0.9). Subjects self-selected to participate in either a walking (WG) or control (CON) group. Subjects in the WG were given a pedometer to wear and were assigned a daily step goal of eventually reaching ≥10,000 steps/day. Each month, subjects were evaluated using: six-minute walk (6min) test, a 20 m walk at a maximum pace (with initial 2.44 m and middle 10 m components), 30 s chair stand (CS) task that measured the number of CS, and lastly a get-up-and-go (GUAG) task that measured the time to walk 2.44 m after standing from a seated position and returning to a seated position. A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used to make group and time (baseline vs. month 3) comparisons.