The Effect of Two Aquatic Exercise Programs on Activities of Daily Living in Older Persons

Abstract

With aging there is a decrease in physical performance often leading to loss of functionality and a decrease in the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). These declines often lead to increased dependence on others for the day-to-day self-care. It has been shown that engaging in exercise regimens can delay this downward spiral, leading to increases in older persons' quality of life. PURPOSE: The purpose of this investigation was to compare a traditional aquatic exercise program to an aquatic program tailored to target ADLs. METHODS: Twenty-five independently living individuals (69 + 8 years) were randomly assigned to a traditional aquatic exercise (TA) or an ADL-specific aquatic exercise (ADLS) group. The exercise groups performed 1 hr exercise sessions, 2 times per week for 8 weeks. ADL ability was assessed using the short version of the Continuous-Scale Physical Functional Performance Test (PFP-10), before and after the eight-week study period. RESULTS: Although our mixed design ANOVA revealed no significant treatment x time interaction, a main effect was detected for time. Improvements from pre to post-training were seen in pan-carry time, jacket don and doff, scarf pickup, floor sweep, laundry 1, grocery time, and endurance walk (p <.05). A student's T-test revealed the TA group spent more time exercising during the hour session than the ADLS group (p <.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that performing either a TA or an ADLS aquatic exercise program can lead to improvements in ADL performance; however, the ADLS group accomplished this with participants spending less time exercising.