EFFECTS OF A GENERAL EXERCISE PROGRAM ON PLANTARFLEXOR AND DORSIFLEXOR STRENGTH AND POWER OF OLDER WOMEN

This article describes a study that examined the effects of a general exercise program on dynamic plantarflexor and dorsiflexor muscle stren gth of older women and compared strength between the older group and a group of young women. The rationale for maintaining muscle strength r elates to reduced risk of falls and maintaining the ability to perform tasks independently. A group of 22 older women participated in a gene ral exercise program over a 2-year period and were tested at 3-month i ntervals. A group of 20 young females was tested once for comparative purposes. Analysis of variance with repeated measures were performed o n the data from the group of older women for four testing sessions ove r the 2-year period (96% of the subjects attended these sessions). Dif ferences were statistically significant (P less than or equal to .05) for all three plantarflexor measurements but not for the dorsiflexors among testing sessions for the group of older women. (Independent t-te sts were used to determine differences between the two groups.) The re sults of this study support the hypothesis that exercise can improve d ynamic muscle strength for older persons but that specificity and inte nsity of the exercises should be addressed. The magnitude of the diffe rences between the groups of young and older women for plantarflexor s trength characteristics were modified with exercise.