Effects of 8 Weeks of Flexibility and Resistance Training in Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Flexibility is often downplayed as unimportant to fitness. However, flexibility training is imperative to maintain full range of motion (ROM) of joints, particularly in individuals with type 2 diabetes, who may experience limited joint mobility due to glycation of joint structures (1). Maladies such as “frozen shoulder” are common complaints in type 2 diabetes (2). Conflicting evidence exists about the effect of resistance training on flexibility. For healthy adults, such training will improve flexibility as long as exercises incorporate a full ROM, opposing muscle groups (agonist and antagonist) are trained, and flexibility exercises are done. However, combined strength and flexibility training may not be as effective as flexibility training alone for improving joint ROM in shoulder abduction (3), although strength training alone may increase it (4). Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine whether 8 weeks of combined training improves flexibility in older adults with and without type 2 diabetes. Nine individuals with type 2 diabetes (5 men and 4 women) and 10 sedentary control subjects (6 men and 4 women) participated. The mean age for the two groups (type 2 diabetic and control subjects) was 50.6 ± 2.8 and 54.7 ± 2.8 years, respectively, and BMI was similar prior to training (32.0 ± 2.4 and 33.1 ± 1.4 kg/m …