Research and News
Posts tagged resistance training
Thera-Band® exercise helps improve bone density and reduce falls in osteoporosis
Feb 24th
It’s been well-established that exercise has numerous health benefits, yet it is only relatively recently that exercise has been shown safe and effective at improving health and quality of life in older adults.
Recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and American College of Sports Medicine include strengthening exercises for older adults at least twice a week. Strength training can improve muscular strength, power and endurance in older adults. In addition, strength training can increase bone mass or decrease bone mass loss which is particularly important in women with osteoporosis. Falls in osteoporotic women in particular often lead to fractures of the hip, back, and arm.
Researchers in Germany set out to determine if a well-rounded exercise program that included Thera-Band® resistance bands would be effective at increasing bone density, decreasing falls, and improving cardiovascular risk factors in older women. In the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 246 women over 65 years old were randomly assigned to either a high-intensity/low volume “well-rounded” exercise program, or a low-intensity “wellness” exercise control group. The 18 month exercise program included 2 group sessions per week and 2 home-based sessions per week.
The well-rounded exercise group protocol included cardiovascular warm-up exercises, upper body strengthening exercise using More >
Elastic resistance exercise safe and effective for kidney failure patients on dialysis
Feb 11th
The kidneys serve an important function in filtering the blood. Patients with severe kidney disease or kidney failure don’t have the ability to clean their blood. This condition is known as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and often requires hemodialysis that cleans the blood with a machine. In 2006, over 500,000 Americans had ESRD, with over 350,000 requiring dialysis.
Dialysis patients often have reduced physical function and quality of life because of their disease complications and lack of physical activity. Unfortunately, there is little research on exercise in dialysis patients. Researchers performed a multi-center randomized controlled trial in Spain to determine the effects of a resistance training program with ankle weights and elastic bands.
27 hemodialysis patients were randomly assigned to a resistive-exercise group or a low-level aerobic exercise group. Both groups, supervised by physiotherapists, exercised 3 times a week for 6 months. Each session included 5 minutes of stretching as part of warm-up and cool down, and 25 minutes of either resistance training or stationary bike riding. The resistance training group performed training at an RPE of 12-14, and emphasized lower extremity exercise.
At the end of the study, the resistance training group significantly increased in physical function compared to the control group. The More >
