This relation between work and decreased distress remained after controlling for initial physical and psychological adjustment, sociodemographic variables, and social supports and was true even when employees returned to jobs with which they reported dissatisfaction at the time of the myocardial infarction. A study of the quality of life in a group of patients recovering from lower-limb amputation sheds further light on the importance of regaining functional competence. However, after matched logistic regression analysis, mobility was the only significant independent factor differentiating the two groups. Ratings of social isolation and emotional distress lost their statistical significance after adjustment for mobility. It can be concluded that the primary target of rehabilitation after lower-limb amputation is aggressive improvement of mobility.
Few treatments are as simple to administer as supervised physical activity.
Its results are perhaps most dramatically seen in the very old. The trainability of older men has been shown not to depend on whether they trained in youth. Moreover, as a person ages and functional reserve decreases, the degree of a training effect from regular exercise becomes relatively greater. There is no evidence that exercise in moderation is hazardous for the elderly. In one study, frail, elderly institutionalized nonagenarian volunteers, after eight weeks in a supervised weight-lifting program for legs only, showed a 174 percent increase in muscle strength and highly significant gains in muscle mass and walking speed.