Effect of 12 Weeks of Resistance Training on Motor Coordination and Dynamic Balance of Older Woman

Abstract

Resistance training (RT) is considered a viable strategy to enhance the autonomy and functionality of older populations. We randomized 49 older women (64.2 ± 3.8) into one of two groups: An intervention group (IG) (n = 29) that performed regimented RT or a nontraining control group (CG) (n = 20). The RT protocol was carried out three times a week for both the upper and lower limbs over a 12-week study period. A 30-second arm flexion test was used to test upper limb endurance and a 30-second chair stand test was used to analyze lower limb endurance. Dynamic balance was tested by a Y balance test normalized by leg length. A Soda Pop test was employed to analyze coordination. Results showed significant improvements in IG versus CG in both upper limb (19.50 ± 1.52 vs. 11.40 ± 2.87, p = 0.001) and lower limb muscular endurance (14.90 ± 3.10 vs. 26.56 ± 3.17, p = 0.001). Moreover, the training group showed superior improvements in anterior and posterolateral balance compared to CG (63.9% ± 3.1% to 70.2 ± 2.1 and 88.1 ± 3.9 to 94.2 ± 2.7 with p = 0.001, respectively). There were no significant differences in coordination outcomes between groups. In conclusion, we demonstrate that RT is effective in developing muscular endurance and dynamic balance in postmenopausal women, but does not influence muscular coordination in the measures studied. Study registered in the Brazilian Registry Clinical Trials Registry (No. RBR-7MZ2KR).