High Challenge Exercise and Learning Safe Landing Strategies among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Marina Arkkukangas, Karin Strömqvist Bååthe, Anna Ekholm and Michail Tonkonogi
Additional contact information
Marina Arkkukangas: Department of Medicine, Sport and Fitness Science, School of Education, Health and Social Studies, Dalarna University, 791 88 Falun, Sweden
Karin Strömqvist Bååthe: Department of Medicine, Sport and Fitness Science, School of Education, Health and Social Studies, Dalarna University, 791 88 Falun, Sweden
Anna Ekholm: Research and Development in Sörmland, Region Sörmland, 632 17 Eskilstuna, Sweden
Michail Tonkonogi: Department of Medicine, Sport and Fitness Science, School of Education, Health and Social Studies, Dalarna University, 791 88 Falun, Sweden

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-10

Abstract: There is limited research on optimal exercise programs that effectively decrease falls and fall-related injuries in older populations. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed to explore the effects of a 12-week Judo4Balance program on falling techniques, physical and psychological functions, health status, and physical activity levels among 200 community-dwelling older adults (79% women and 21% men) with a mean age of 72 years. The 200 participants were randomly allocated for the Judo4Balce program ( n = 100) or control group ( n = 100). The RCT intervention started in mid-January 2020 and was abruptly interrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A restart of the RCT was initiated in September 2021, and the 12-week intervention was offered to two groups. This study reports the results from three points of assessment: baseline, 20-month follow-up, and 12-week postintervention. At 20 months follow-up, the control group had significantly decreased physical activity levels (summer p = 0.002 and winter p = 0.003); similar changes were not seen in the exercise group. In the exercise group, learning falling techniques in 6–9 weeks led to sustained fall competence at 20 months follow-up. Further, significant improvements in physical function (exercise group p = 0.009 and control group p < 0.001) and learning falling techniques ( p < 0.001 for both groups) were noted in both groups after the 12-week intervention. This effective, supervised, group-based, high-challenge multicomponent exercise program needs to be further evaluated for possible impact on falls and fall-related injuries.

Keywords: exercise; judo; martial arts; motor skill; physical activity; older adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7370/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7370/ (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:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7370-:d:839937

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 ().