EFFECTS OF HOME-BASED ANKLE TRAINING PROGRAM ON THE MUSCLE STRENGTH, BALANCE AND GAIT FUNCTION IN THE ELDERLY – PRELIMINARY RESULTS

H.-C. Lin¹, C.-W. Chen¹, Y.-H. Chen¹, C.-M. Chang¹

¹China Medical University, Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, Taichung, Taiwan

Background: The falls problem of the elderly will affect their physical activity and independence. Past literature shows that the factors of falling include: lower limb weakness, age, and past injury experience. Therefore, it is important to improve the muscle strength in lower limb of the elderly. Insufficient muscle strength of the ankle may lead to the reduced propulsion force, the stride length and velocity in walking, and also result in unstable balance and falling.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to implement a home-based ankle training program with two different training modes: new ankle machine training group (NAMTG) and the elastic band training group (EBTG) and to investigate their effects on the elderly’s muscle strength, balance and gait function.

Methods: The study design is a randomized control trial. A total of 34 elderly people over 65 years old agreed to participate and execute the training program. They were randomly divided into two training groups: NAMTG (n=16) and EBTG (n=18). Both groups completed their 9-week home-based ankle training program in sitting position, consisted of 6 exercises for their general physical fitness and one progressive resisted exercise for the ankle strength (NAMTG or EBTG). For the first three weeks of the program, the participants maintained their usual daily life. Afterwards, they started their exercise protocol twice a week along with the video demonstration on their mobile phone for six weeks. To evaluate their training effectiveness, there were two pre-tests: the first one is before the start of the program and the second one is after the third week (before the training starts); a mid-test at the sixth week (after finishing three weeks of training); and a post-test at the ninth week (after the training is completed). The evaluations test the participants’ muscle strength, balance, and gait function. Two-way ANOVA mixed design model was used to compare the training effectiveness between the two groups before and after the training.

Results: The results showed no significant difference between the NAMTG and EBTG groups (p > 0.05), but the variables including Timed Sit-to-Stand Test (11.93 ± 2.87 vs. 10.68 ± 2.18 seconds), peak force (648.79 ± 145.65 vs. 701.41 ± 126.48 newton), left-leg Y Balance Test (84.89 ± 14.42 vs. 92.88 ± 13.45 %), right-leg Y Balance Test (83.69 ± 15.91 vs. 95.33 ± 13.73 %), walking velocity (1.09 ± 0.13 vs. 1.15 ± 0.12 m/s), stride length (0.96 ± 0.15 vs. 1.05 ± 0.13 meters), cadence (106.17 ± 10.9 vs. 110.03 ± 8.86 min), left ankle range of motion (26.88 ± 5.61 vs. 30.07 ± 8.35 degrees) and right ankle range of motion (27.37 ± 6.04 vs. 31.29 ± 11.84 degrees) showed significant improvement compared to the those before training (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Both groups with different ankle muscle training modes can improve the muscle strength, balance, and gait function of the elderly.

Implications: The home-based ankle training program adopted in this study can be used as an exercise training suggestion and reference for the elderly to promote physical function and prevent falls.

Funding acknowledgements: No specific funding

Keywords:
Ankle strength training
Elderly
Physical function

Topics:
Community based rehabilitation
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Older people

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: China Medical University & Hospital

Committee: Research Ethics Committee

Ethics number: CMUH110-REC2-192