Effects of stair‐climbing on balance, gait, strength, resting heart rate, and submaximal endurance in healthy seniors

Abstract

Stair-climbing serves as a feasible opportunity to remain physically active within everyday-life. Data on neuromuscular and cardiorespiratory performance after regular stair-climbing in seniors are scarce. Forty-eight seniors were stratified to a one- (taking every step, INT1) or two-step strategy (every second step, INT2) or a control group (CON). Thirty-nine seniors [females: n = 22, males: n = 17; age: 70.5 (SD 5.1) years; BMI: 25.8 (3.1) kg/m(2)] completed the 8-week intervention (three weekly sessions). Before and after the intervention, balance, gait, strength, and submaximal endurance (at different intensities) were assessed. Maximal strength and explosive power did not improve significantly (0.10 < P < 0.78). Resting heart rate was significantly reduced in INT2 (-8/min) compared with INT1 (0/min, P = 0.02) and CON (0/min, P = 0.03). Compared with CON, perceived exertion for all intensities (0.007 < P < 0.03) and submaximal exercise heart rate during moderate uphill walking significantly decreased (-11/min; P < 0.05) in INT2. Step counts for forward beam balancing (4.5 cm width) increased in INT2 (P = 0.007) compared with CON. With more pronounced effects in INT2, stair-climbing significantly improved resting and exercise heart rates, perceived exertion, and dynamic balance performance in healthy seniors and may contribute to better overall fitness, reduced fall risk, and less perceived strain during daily life activities.

Effects of an eight-week stepladder exercise protocol on lower limb muscular strength of apparently healthy young adults

“…Most authors have focused on the cardiorespiratory and biomechani cal effects of climbing stairs [5,6,8,11]. The few avail able studies relating to the use of stairs in strength training have involved either individuals with mobility limitation (induced by cardiovascular disease) [7] or healthy seniors aged 65 years and above [10]. These authors have also come up with conflicting findings.…”

“…Similar differences also exist between our Human Movement, Vol. 18, No 3, 2017 http://humanmovement.pl/ study and the research by Donath et al [10], who did not find significant differences in the effects of one step and twostep stair ascent on the maximal strength of healthy seniors (mean age, 70.5 years). There seems to be dearth of studies on the comparative efficacy and effects of FSC and bSC exercises on muscle activity and strength.…”

“…These authors have also come up with conflicting findings. For instance, researchers like bean et al [9] and Theo dorou et al [7] reported significant increases in mus cle strength among healthy and diseased elderly men, respectively; whereas Donath et al [10] did not find any remarkable effect of stair climbing on their par ticipants' double leg maximal isometric force.…”

“…In spite of extensive published trials on stair climb ing [5][6][7][8][9][10], its effectiveness regarding improvement of muscular strength still appears debatable. Most authors have focused on the cardiorespiratory and biomechani cal effects of climbing stairs [5,6,8,11].…”

“…Most researchers that used stair climbing for strength training have routinely employed forward climbing of stairs [9,10] since it appears practically easier and more acceptable to the public. backward stair descent was reported as the safer approach for people with knee osteoarthritis who also present with reduced strength and joint laxity [11].…”