Effect of increased daily physical activity on lower-extremity physical function during an exercise program for older adults

Abstract

During an exercise program for older adults, it is important that participants exercise not only in the exercise classroom but also in their daily lives. The present study investigated how goal-setting aimed at increasing daily physical activity by 1,000 steps per day, influenced lower-extremity physical function during the exercise program. The participants were non-randomly allocated to two groups: with goal-setting (n = 19, mean age: 68.9 ± 3.3 years) and without goal-setting (n = 13, mean age: 69.9 ± 4.2 years). Participants in the group with goal-setting were encouraged to increase their physical activity by 1,000 steps/day above their baseline step counts. All of the subjects in both groups participated in a square-stepping exercise program for 90 min once a week for 9 weeks. To determine the lower-extremity physical function benefits of the program, six types of test were performed before and after the program. There was a significant group-by-time interaction on daily physical activity (p < 0.001). The group with goal-setting significantly increased their physical activity, and the group without goal-setting did not change their physical activity. There were significant time effects in the 5-m habitual walk, choice stepping reaction time, and 6-min walk. There was a significant group-by-time interaction in the five-repetition sit-to-stand test (p = 0.006), and only the group without goal-setting improved their performance. Although we successfully increased daily physical activity using goal-setting, we could not confirm the effect of goal-setting on lower-extremity physical function. © JPES.