The Effect of a Health Promotion Program Consisting of Easy and Simple Exercises for Community Living Elderly People

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a health promotion program consisting of simple exercises among healthy elderly people in a community. The participants were healthy and elderly people, who were picked out from the users of a sports recreation facility. We carried out physical fitness measurements and instructed on exercises to participants. The evaluations were grip strength, knee extensor strength, sitting trunk flexion, falling-stick reaction time, one leg stance, Functional Reach Test, Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), 10-m walking time, 6 minutes distance (6MD), Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence, Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36), and Profile of Mood States (POMS). All the exercises we instructed were those which can be easily performed at home. As resistance exercise, rubber tube and subject's body weight were used. In the intervention group, the improvements of leg strength, TUG, 6MD, physical function item of SF-36 and vigor item of POMS were significant. Exercise instruction with simple exercise programs in this study improved not only physical abilities but also the social and psychological attitudes of the participants.