Impact of Different Aquatic Exercise Programs on Body Composition, Functional Fitness and Cognitive Function of Non-Institutionalized Elderly Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Carlos Farinha, Ana Maria Teixeira, João Serrano, Hélder Santos, Maria João Campos, Bárbara Oliveiros, Fernanda M. Silva, Márcio Cascante-Rusenhack, Paulo Luís and José Pedro Ferreira
Additional contact information
Carlos Farinha: University of Coimbra, Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity, CIDAF, UID/PTD/04213/2019, 3040-248 Coimbra, Portugal
Ana Maria Teixeira: University of Coimbra, Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity, CIDAF, UID/PTD/04213/2019, 3040-248 Coimbra, Portugal
João Serrano: Sport, Health & Exercise Research Unit (SHERU), Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, 6000-266 Castelo Branco, Portugal
Hélder Santos: Coimbra School of Health Technology—IPC, 3046-854 Coimbra, Portugal
Maria João Campos: University of Coimbra, Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity, CIDAF, UID/PTD/04213/2019, 3040-248 Coimbra, Portugal
Bárbara Oliveiros: Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-370 Coimbra, Portugal
Fernanda M. Silva: University of Coimbra, Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity, CIDAF, UID/PTD/04213/2019, 3040-248 Coimbra, Portugal
Márcio Cascante-Rusenhack: School of Physical Education and Sports, University of Costa Rica (UCR), San José 11501-2060, Costa Rica
Paulo Luís: Municipality of Sertã, 6100-738 Sertã, Portugal
José Pedro Ferreira: University of Coimbra, Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity, CIDAF, UID/PTD/04213/2019, 3040-248 Coimbra, Portugal

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-15

Abstract: Aquatic physical exercise programs have become progressively more popular among elderly people. Some of the major physical exercise program disadvantages on land are minimized due to the specific properties of the aquatic environment. The purpose of the present randomized controlled study is to verify the effects of different aquatic physical exercise programs on body composition, functional fitness and cognitive function in non-institutionalized elderly people. For this study, 102 elderly individuals were randomly allocated into four different groups: AerG ( n = 25, 71.44 ± 4.84 years); IntG ( n = 28, 72.64 ± 5.22 years); ComG ( n = 29, 71.90 ± 5.67 years) and CG ( n = 20, 73.60 ± 5.25 years). Individuals from the groups AerG, IntG and ComG participated in three different aquatic physical exercise programs for a period of 28 weeks. The CG participants kept to their usual routines. All participants were evaluated for body composition, functional fitness and cognitive function at two time moments, i.e., pre- (M1) and post-intervention (M2). Significant differences for body composition were found between M1 and M2 for FM ( p < 0.001), LBM ( p < 0.001) and WCir ( p < 0.01) in the AerG, for BMI ( p < 0.05), FM ( p < 0.05), LBM ( p < 0.001) and LCir-R ( p < 0.05) in the IntG, and for WGT ( p < 0.01), FM ( p < 0.05), LBM ( p < 0.01), LCir-R ( p < 0.05) and LCir-L ( p < 0.01) in the ComG groups. For functional fitness, differences were found between M1 and M2 for 2m-ST ( p < 0.000), 30s-CS ( p < 0.000), 30s-AC ( p < 0.05), HG-T-R ( p < 0.000) and HG-T-L ( p < 0.000) in the AerG, for 2m-ST ( p < 0.05), BS-R ( p < 0.05), 30s-CS ( p < 0.000), 30s-AC( p < 0.01), HG-T-R ( p < 0.000) and HG-T-L ( p < 0.000) in the IntG, and for 30s-CS ( p < 0.000), HG-T-R ( p < 0.000) and HG-T-L ( p < 0.000) in the ComG groups. The present study evidenced the beneficial effects of physical exercise in an aquatic environment on body composition, functional fitness and cognitive function in non-institutionalized elderly adults. The ComG water-based exercise program showed more beneficial effects in the improvement of body composition and cognitive function variables, while the IntG and AerG programs were more effective in the improvement of functional fitness.

Keywords: physical exercise; water-based exercise; aging; elderly (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/8963/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/8963/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:17:p:8963-:d:622000

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().