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Non-weight bearing water exercise : changes in cardiorespiratory function in elderly men and women

University of British Columbia

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a 5 week program of aquatic exercise on selected cardiorespiratory parameters in the elderly participant. Fifteen men and women (mean age 68.5 years, range 61-75 years) were recruited voluntarily from regional adult day-care and community centre facilities. Participants underwent a series of physiological tests before the program started and 5 weeks later at the end of the program. Measurements included height, weight, spirometry measurements (FVC, FEV¹ֹ⁰, VEmax), resting blood pressure, resting heart rate, exercise heart rate and VO₂max as determined by a continuous treadmill test (modified after Jones and Campbell, 1982). Following the 5 week aquatic exercise program, the experimental group (n = 8) showed a significant decrease in resting systolic blood pressure (SBPR) (EXPTL:131.5<CTRL:133.4 mmHg) and resting heart rate (HR rest) (EXPTL:71.0<CTRL:76.6 btsּmin⁻¹) in comparison to the control group (n = 7) which exhibited no change. In addition, the experimental group yielded a significant increase in forced expiratory volume (FEV¹ֹ⁰) (EXPTL:2.4>CTRL:2.2 1ּsec⁻¹) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max ) (EXPTL:25.8>CTRL:23.5 mlּkg⁻¹ּmin⁻¹ ) in comparison to the control group. The findings in this study indicate that the exercise capacity of the elderly participant can increase with aquatic exercise: supervised aquatic exercise at or above the recommended intensity of exercise performed three times weekly can produce significant changes in the physical work capacity of the elderly

Text

2010-09-16

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28536

Physical Education

University of British Columbia

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