Evaluating the muscular strength, functional capacity, and risk of sarcopenia in elderly women who practice Mat Pilates

Daniel Vicentini De Oliveira,José Roberto Andrade Do Nascimento Júnior,Amanda Mansano De Souza,Natália Serra Lovato,Mateus Dias Antunes,Áurea Gonçalves Ferreira

doi:10.1590/1980-5918.032.ao22

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Despite the importance of appropriate levels of muscular strength to maintain the functional capacity and a healthy life in old age, the current literature still lacks studies that investigate the profile of elderly women who practice Mat Pilates regarding these variables. Objective: This study aimed to analyze muscular strength, functional capacity, and risk of sarcopenia in elderly women who practiced Mat Pilates. Method: This is a cross-sectional study carried out with 50 elderly women who practice Mat Pilates in the city of Maringá, Paraná. Sociodemographic and health questionnaires were used, in addition to tests created by a Latin American development group for maturity called Grupo de Desenvolvimento Latino Americano para a Maturidade (GDLAM), sitting-rising test, arm curl test, and SARC-F questionnaire. For data analysis, Shapiro-Wilk and Mann-Whitney U tests, as well as Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficients, were used. The level of significance was p < 0.05. Results: The 70-79-year-old elderly women showed worse results in the functional capacity and muscular strength tests of the upper limbs and a higher risk of sarcopenia than the individuals who were under 70 years of age. Muscular strength was inversely related to the reduction of the risk of sarcopenia, and functional capacity was directly associated with this risk. Conclusion: A good functional capacity seems to be related to the reduction of the risk of sarcopenia. Age seems to be an intervening factor for reducing muscular strength levels and functional capacity and increasing the risk of sarcopenia.

Highlights

Despite the importance of appropriate levels of muscular strength to maintain the functional capacity and a healthy life in old age, the current literature still lacks studies that investigate the profile of elderly women who practice Mat Pilates regarding these variables
Muscular strength was inversely related to the reduction of the risk of sarcopenia, and functional capacity was directly associated with this risk
This study showed that 70-79 year-old women obtained worse results regarding the strength levels in the lower limbs (LLs) in most functional capacity tests (RSP, RCWH, RDVP), as well as in the GI of the functional capacity, in addition to the risk of sarcopenia, compared to 60-69 year-old individuals (Table 3), which confirms the results found in other researches [15,16,17]

Summary

Introduction

Despite the importance of appropriate levels of muscular strength to maintain the functional capacity and a healthy life in old age, the current literature still lacks studies that investigate the profile of elderly women who practice Mat Pilates regarding these variables. 2 muscular strength, functional capacity, and risk of sarcopenia in elderly women who practiced Mat Pilates. Results: The 70-79-year-old elderly women showed worse results in the functional capacity and muscular strength tests of the upper limbs and a higher risk of sarcopenia than the individuals who were under 70 years of age. After 65, muscular strength decreases with a rate of about 12 to 15% per decade This negatively affects the functional capacity of older people [2]. Another unfavorable consequence of the aging process is sarcopenia, which can be defined as the progressive loss of muscle mass associated with functional decline [3]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion