Effect Of Water Immersion On Dual Task Performance In Older Adults

Abstract

Much is known about cardiovascular and biomechanical responses to exercise during water immersion, yet an understanding of the higher-order neural responses to water immersion is unclear in older adults. PURPOSE: To compare cognitive and motor performance between land and water environments using a dual task paradigm, which served as an indirect measure of cortical processing. METHODS: Cross-over research design where ten older participants (age = 78 ± 5.0 yrs) with mild cognitive impairment performed a cognitive (auditory vigilance) and motor (standing balance) task separately (single task condition) and simultaneously (dual task condition) on land and in chest-deep water. Listening errors (# = count) from the auditory vigilance task and center of pressure (CoP) sway area (cm2) for the balance task measured cognitive and motor performance, respectively. Environment (land vs water) and task (single vs dual) comparisons were made with a Wilcoxon matched-pair test. RESULTS: Listening errors for the single task in water (3.0 ± 2.3 #) were not different (p = 0.2) from land (7.0 ± 6.8 #). A similar observation was made for the dual task condition (water = 2.8 ± 1.5 # vs. land = 4.8 ± 3.6 #; p = 0.1). CoP sway values for the single task in water (12.7 ± 4.3 cm2) were 123% greater (p = 0.001) from land (5.7 ± 2.2 cm2). Dual task conditions revealed a similar trend (water=11.5 ± 4.2 cm2 vs. 4.3 ± 1.6 cm2; p = 0.009) and CoP values between single and dual task conditions were not different (p = 0.86). CONCLUSION: Older adults with mild dementia made similar ‘cognitive’ errors while immersed chest-deep in water than on land. These same participants swayed more in water than on land suggesting they were less stable in the water environment. Finally, the task demands (single vs. dual) did not influence their cognitive or motor performances in either environment. Supported by the National Swimming Pool Foundation