Background and purpose: With the aging society coming, many group activities are designed for the elders. This study is to evaluate the physical training performance of the group rehabilitation exercise for the elders in a day care center for 6 months.
Methods: 36 elders from a daycare center in Taichung city are 65 years old or older, and can follow the physical therapist without using other rehabilitation resources. 36 elders are equally separated into two groups. One group joins the exercise for six months, and the other group is for three months. The group rehabilitation exercise takes 90 minutes once a week. Physical function measurements are made every three months in this study. Baseline measurements include the demographic data, the mental status, and the measurements of physical function. The difference of the baseline data for two groups is used Mann-Whitney U test. Correlation analysis of baseline data and physical function is also used. The paired t test is used to assess the activity effect after three months intervention. The Friedman test is used to access the two groups' physical function change for six months.
Results: The baseline data for two groups is similar initially. After three months activity intervention, muscle strength, activity of daily life, and balance activity are significantly improved. After six months, the muscle strength, active joint range of motion, activity of daily life, and balance ability are further enhanced for the group with the activity for six months. The balance ability is degraded for the group without joining the activity after three months.
Conclusion: The group rehabilitation exercise lasting for six months improves the muscle strength, active joint range of motion, activity of daily life, and balance ability of the elders. The exercise sustains the physical effect. Only the balance ability after intervention stopped is degraded. However, the number of subject in this study is too small to popularize the results into other big groups.
