We overviewed the results of a recent study concerning exercise epidemiology, whereby the relationships between hypertension, type II diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia and each level of physical activity and physical fitness were assessed, and the exercise intensity effective for primary prevention of disease was estimated. The study reports that persons with a higher level of endurancehave a lower risk of developing disease than those with a lower level for all diseases. Some previous studies have revealed that it is effective for preventing disease to maintain daily physical activity, including moderate or more physical activities. The threshold of exercise intensity effective for preventing diseases differs among reports, but is speculated to be around 6.0 METS in middleaged males. It may be desirable to achieve a level of endurance sufficient to perform exercise with an intensity of at least 6.0 METS (high intensity) under the lactate threshold, in order to prevent an early onset of lifestyle-related diseases.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to classify patterns of standing-up movement from a supine position in elderly females, and compare the age, sex, and physical functions between the classified groups. Subjects were 168 females, aged over 60 years old. Patterns of standing-up movement from a supine position were classified, and the age, body mass index, grip strength, raising the upper body, sit-and-reach distance, one leg standing time, 6 minutes walking distance, foot-gripping strength, quadriceps femoris strength, walking time, and the timed up-and-go test were compared between the classified groups with one-way ANOVA. Patterns of standing-up movement from a supine position were classified into three categories: 1) standing up from a position in which both hands and feet are on the floor and both legs are straight, 2) standing up from a position in which one knee is on the floor, and 3) standing up from a squatting position. There was no significant difference between the groups regarding all measurements. Therefore, it was suggested that patterns of standing-up movement from a supine position in elderly females are not necessarily influenced by physical functions (e.g., the age, body type, muscle strength, and balancing ability).

View full abstract

[Purpose] This study explored the characteristics of elderly patients with knee pain and examined the effects of differences in the level of knee pain and affected side on patients' mental health. [Methods] The study examined knee pain, mental health (depression, quality of life (QOL),cognitive functioning), physical functioning, smoking habits, and socioeconomic factors involving

View full abstract

Aim: The objective of the present study is to examine the effectiveness of Life Function Score (LFS) in the context of health assessment for community elderly residents. Methods: LFS was evaluated with the health assessment survey in A City in 2007 that contains questionnaire entries of problematic behavior in elderly: life function, Housebound (shutting oneself in his/her room or house), falls and under-nutrition. The subjects of the survey were 211 residents. Results: We examined the relationship between LFS and each problem behavior. Relationships of LFS with Housebound and falls were statistically significant, however under-nutrition were not significant. In the ROC analysis, although AUC (area under the curve) of LFS in Housebound showed high score 0.92, that in falls and under-nutrition were low score (0.37, 0.38). Conclusion: We found that LFS was effective to assess Housebound, however, it was difficult to evaluate the falls, under-nutrition of community elderly residents.

View full abstract

This study examined physical, cognitive, and psychological functioning among 320 elderly people living in a local community with (79) and without (241) musculoskeletal ambulation disability symptom complex (MADS), and the characteristics of MADS were comprehensively evaluated. The following measurement items were used for comparison: physical functioning including gait (gait speed, 10-meter walk over an obstacle course) and muscle strength (hand grip strength, quadriceps muscle strength), cognitive functioning including mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and trail making test (TMT), and psychological functioning including subjective wellbeing, life satisfaction, and purpose in life. As the results, the elderly with MADS showed a significant decrease in physical functioning such as gait and muscle strength compared to those without. Significant decreases were also observed in MMSE in cognitive functioning, and subjective wellbeing in psychological functioning. However, no significant difference was observed in TMT, life satisfaction, and purpose in life between the groups. In light of the above findings, in addition to physical functioning such as gait and muscle strength, the cognitive and psychological health status should be evaluated for the elderly with MADS.

View full abstract

[Purpose]The aim of this study was to examine the validity of developmental changes and effects of different age and gender by using the coefficient of determination of regression. While children (and adults) stood still the center of pressure (CoP) sway variance was measured and normalized according to physical factors and changing natural logarithms. [Methods]Subjects were 364 healthy children aged between 4 to 9, and 40 healthy adults. The subjects were required to stand still for 20 seconds with their eye open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) in order to measure CoP sway variations. The item analyzed included CoP length (LNG), rectangular area (REC) and envelopment area (ENV). The item analysis was organized according to measured values, natural logarithm values and normalized values of physical factors (LNG/height, REC/(foot length×foot width), ENV/(foot length×foot width)). In the statistical analysis, analysis of covariance was carried out and each item was analyzed as a dependent variable for its correlation to gender and age. [Results]The normalization of both the REC and ENV values had a major effect on both EO and EC and in EC trials gender and age mutually effected each other. Furthermore, by analyzing covariance with the coefficient of determination of the regression line, it was shown that out of actual measurements, natural logarithm values and normalized values, the normalized values were the highest. [Conclusion]The CoP sway variance with EO and EC in boys under 9 showed more unstable than girls. However girls with their EC were more unstable than boys over 10 years old. Furthermore, it is believed that the normalization of CoP sway variance by height, foot length and foot width was effective in perceiving development change in children than actual measurements and natural logarithm values.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of a dual-task condition on toe-obstacle distance of stepping over an obstacle by elderly people who had a fall experience in the past year. The subjects were 30 young women and 30 community-dwelling elderly women. In addition, 30 community-dwelling elderly women were divided 7 people who had a history of falls and 23 people who had no history of falls in the past year by based on interview results. We measured stepping over parameter the single and dual tasks. The single task was a solitary motor task. The dual task consisted of a motor task and a concurrent cognitive task. The motor task was stepping over a 2-cm high wooden obstacle that was 80 cm wide, and 15 cm deep, which was set up in the middle of a 9-m walkway during comfortable gait, and the cognitive task was the serial subtraction of seven from 100. Two-way ANOVA showed that toe-obstacle distance had a significant interaction between the group and condition, and in elderly people group who had a fall experience, toeobstacle distance in dual tasks condition was significantly decreased contrasting by that in single task condition. These results suggest that young women, non-fallers and fallers may have different strategies fallers for stepping over an obstacle

View full abstract

The Frail CS-10 and quadriceps muscular strength were measured in 17 Parkinson's disease patients (5 males and 12 females) to examine the relationships with the FIM motor item. Regarding the method, the relationships of the Frail CS-10 and quadriceps muscular strength with the FIM-M and FIM-M subclassification were investigated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. As a result, FIM-M, self-care, transferring, and ambulation showed a significant correlation with the Frail CS-10, while excretion control did not. No measurement items showed a significant correlation with quadriceps muscular strength. The findings suggest that the Frail CS-10 is a better method for assessing lower-extremity function which reflects the ADL of Parkinson's disease patients than quadriceps muscular strength, which has previously been used as the average of lower-extremity function.

View full abstract

[Purpose] We evaluated the relationship between voluntary contraction and muscle activity of the quadriceps femoris muscle, which is frequently analyzed to obtain representative values of the lower muscle function, using electromyography (EMG) and mechanomyography (MMG). [Subjects and Methods] The subjects consisted of 17 healthy adult females. The maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) with the knee flexed to 90°was measured. Using 50% MVC as a reference, integrated electromyography (IEMG) and integrated mechanomyography (IMMG) records at 10-70% MVC were obtained and compared among MVC intensities. [Results] Both EMG and MMG showed significant increases in the integral calculus with an increase in %MVC. How ever, there was a significant interaction between the measurement method (EMG・MMG) and voluntary contraction. [Conclusion] MMG as well as EMG records were proportional to the degree of exerted muscle strength, but changes in the increase in muscle activity differed between the two methods.

View full abstract

Purpose: We examined the relationships between the timed up and go test (TUG) and measurement parameters, and the difference in balance activities relative to the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in patients. Methods: The study included 48 patients with COPD (45 men; 3 women; average age, 76.2±7.0 years). Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationships between the TUG score and measurement parameters,and one-way analysis of variance to assess the TUG score relative to the severity of COPD. Results:The TUG results had a significant correlation with measurement parameters. The TUG score was significantly decreased for the severe COPD group relative to the BODE index quartile. Conclusion: Patients with severe COPD had a decrease in balance ability, which could lead to an increased risk of falls.

View full abstract