Effect Of Physical Exercise On The Functional Capacity, Fall Risk And Emotional Status Among Elderly

Abstract

It has been found that older adults who are confined to nursing homes have permanent stay sedentary, for that reason has greater stiffness in their joints which implies deterioration in physical ability and emotional state. PURPOSE: To determine the effect of physical activation program on functional ability, fall risk and affective state among older adults asylees. METHODS: Fifty institutionalized persons were randomly divided into two groups, experimental group (EG) and control group (CG), 15 women and 10 men in each group were selected. All were over 60 years old, did not have a terminal illness and did not use a wheelchair. The intervention consisted of implementing an exercise program with emphasis on joint mobility, consisting of 60 sessions conducted over 12 weeks. The sessions had a 10 minutes warmup, 20 for the central part and 10 minutes to cool down. The control group continued with the activities that the institution provides them. Affective state, with the geriatric scale of Yesavage, functional capacity with the Katz index and the risk of falling with the Tinetti scale were evaluated. Descriptive statistics and t-test was performed to determine differences between the initial and final evaluation. RESULTS: The retention was 100 per cent; the average age of participants was 74 with a range of 61-82 years for the EG, while the CG was 73 with a range of 62-81 years. In EG increased in both gait and balance, and functional ability between the pretest and postest (p=0.001) was observed, while depression state a decreased (p=0.001) was observed. Among CG a decrease was observed in both gait and balance, as in the functional capacity between pretest and postest (p=0.001), while depression state an increase (p=0.01) was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of an exercise program with emphasis on joint mobility improves gait and balance in elderly asylees, representing a decreased risk of falling. It also increases the functional capacity representing greater independence in performing basic activities of daily living. It also lowers the level of depression improving affective state. These shows that design and implement exercise plans for the elderly, providing autonomy, improve their physical ability and directly and positively impact their emotional state and their relationships manner.