Abstract
Objective: To examine the effects of 6-month walking and 12-month detraining (DT) on locomotive syndrome (LS) risk stages and walking ability in middle-aged and elderly Japanese people.
Methods: Six middle-aged and elderly volunteers (3 female, 3 male, age, 65±5 years, mean±SD) participated in our walking program for 6 months. They were instructed to walk three or more times per week. Additionally, two participants performed walking with blood flow restriction once or twice per week. Before (Pre) and after (Post) the program and at the 12th month after the end of the program (DT), body composition and brisk walking speed were measured. At the same times, the LS risk stages (0-2) were evaluated by the three tests: stand-up test, two-step test, and 25-question Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale.
Results: At the Pre test, five of six participants were assessed as LS risk stage 0, and another participant was assessed as LS risk stage 1. The participant remained classed at stage 1 in both Post and DT tests. In addition, one more participant was added as stage 1 in the DT test. The time of 10-m brisk walking test was significantly reduced from the Pre test (4.60±0.61 s) to the Post test (3.95±0.70, p<0.05) but increased at the DT test (4.87±0.40 s, p<0.05).
Conclusions: In middle-aged and elderly Japanese volunteers, walking ability was improved by the 6-month walking program, but the improvement was diminished following a 12-month DT period. Moreover, although the program was not sufficient to improve the LS risk stages, the program may be partly effective for maintaining locomotive function.
© 2018 The Juntendo Medical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original source is properly credited.
