Effect Of Functional Training At Senior Day Care Centers On Athletic Performance

There are few reports on changes in motor function in elderly individuals requiring long-term care in senior day care centers. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate chronological changes in motor function of elderly individuals in senior day care centers using a linear mixed-effects model with Timed Up & Go test (TUG) as the dependent variable. METHOD: Data from TUG, conducted every 3 months for 101 senior day care center users (60 women, 41 men, age 72 ± 13.3 [F:72 ± 14.2, M:73 ± 11.8] was used. For analysis, the optimal model was selected with age as a fixed effect and subject characteristics such as weight and disease, number of tests, and assistance status during walking as random effects.Data from 60 healthy participants in a health club (58 women, 2 men, 68 ± 11.6 years) of the same age group were similarly calculated and compared. RESULTS: Linear mixed-effects model with age as the fixed effect, and subject, number of tests, degree of care, medical disease, surgical disease, and walking aid as random effects were the best example models for comparing the results of TUG.Chronological effect (slope) was about -0.17 seconds/year for senior day care center users, and age-related increase (about +0.09 second/year) was confirmed in health club participants. This suggests improvement of motor function in senior day care center individuals. However, while the TUG values for health club participants are faster than the cutoff values even at age 90, the model for users of day care centers for the elderly deviates from the cutoff values at all ages. CONCLUSIONS: TUG values of middle-aged and elderly people with exercise habits increases with age, but motor function can be maintained within the cutoff value. In persons requiring long-term care, TUG values deviates from the cutoff value. However, it was confirmed that motor function can be maintained by senior day care center usage.