Comparative analysis of flexibility in active and inactive elderly women

Abstract

With aging there comes a decline in physical fitness, including decreasing flexibility, and the practice of physical activity by older adults is an important factor for maintaining health and physical fitness during the aging process. Objective: To compare the flexibility of elderly women who practice either hydrogymnastics or combination exercise training with those who are not active. Sixty females participated in the study, aged between 60 and 80 years and divided into three groups: 20 subjects who actively practiced hydrogymnastics (G1), 20 subjects who actively practiced combination exercise training (G2), and 20 subjects who were not-active (G3). Methods: The subjects underwent anthropometric measurements consisting of weight, height, waist circumference, and flexibility. Measurements were taken with distance reached in the sit and reach test and the extent of flexion and hip extension by means of a goniometer. The assumptions of normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test for comparison between groups (G1, G2, G3) were checked, the one way ANOVA test, followed by the Tukey post hoc for the data with parametric distribution, and the Friedman test for samples with non-parametric distribution were performed. A significance level of p < 0.05 was assumed. Results: The anthropometric variables revealed no significant differences between groups. In the analysis of flexibility, significant differences were found in hip flexion and extension; the G1 and G2 groups showed greater values than the G3, and there were no significant differences between G1 and G2 nor between groups. Conclusion: The results suggest that hydrogymnastics and combination exercise training provided improvements in flexion and hip extension in elderly women, with no influence on the other variables studied.