The Benefits Of Sandwalking For Improving Strength And Physical Fitness In Elderly Women

Abstract

Purpose Falls and physical inactivity among older adults is a significant public health burden, with reduced lower limb muscle strength being attributed to a higher risk of falling. Soft sand walking potentially offers many benefits for reducing the risk of falls, as it offers potential for greater improvement in lower limb muscle strength as well as improvement in fitness due to its higher energy cost. This study examined the benefits of soft sand compared to firm surface walking on improving lower limb muscle strength and physical fitness in older females. Methods thirty eight healthy, relatively inactive women, were randomly allocated to either soft sand or firm surface walking groups. Groups walked 3 times per week and progressed from a 25minute self paced walk to a 40 minute walk throughout the 8 week intervention. Pre and post measures were taken for fitness (submaximal VO) and lower limb muscle strength (hip and knee). Blood glucose and cholesterol levels were also analysed. Results Average compliance was 87%, with the sand walking group exercising at a slightly higher intensity (85% HR max) than the firm surface group (74% HR max). A significant main time effect was reported for cholesterol (p=0.002), triglycerides (p=0.001), high density lipoprotein (p=0.036), low density lipoprotein (p=0.002) and coronary risk ratio (p=0.0001) in both groups. The surface interaction effect for HDL approached significance (p=0.052), with a tendency for higher levels in the sand group post intervention (p=0.06). Neither group reported significant differences across time for treadmill walking submaximal oxygen consumption (p=0.223), but heart rate response did change (p=0.0001), with a greater percentage reduction reported in the sand group (p=0.016). Although the sand walking group did not show significantly better improvements in strength measures, there was a greater percentage change in the majority of these measures amongst sand walkers. Conclusions There is a tendency for greater improvements across most measures amongst the sand walking group which may be further enhanced by a longer intervention period. This has implications for public health initiatives as exercising on soft sand may have certain advantages over firm surface walking.