Older People Gait: Physiomechanics and Functionality

The aim of study is to investigate gait in active elderly people regarding the kinematic parameters of gait, indicators of physical fitness and quality of life.

Objective: Evaluate and compare the effects of different types of training (balance training, strength training, cardiorespiratory endurance training); in the older people in the variables of physical fitness (dynamic balance, static balance, rate of strength production, flexibility and cardiorespiratory endurance), physiomechanics of gait (length and frequency of stride, time of contact and balance, energy conversion, mechanical work , transport cost, dynamic stability and mechanical efficiency of walking at different speeds), indicators associated with quality of life (depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life, fear of falling). Experimental Design: study experimental randomized. Search Location: Exercise Research Laboratory at the School of Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Dance, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Participants: older people from the community of both sexes, aged 60 or over, sedentary. Interventions: In this research, three groups of older people will receive intervention during 4 months of different types of training (balance training, strength training, cardiorespiratory endurance training); and a control group, who will receive educational lectures on health, walking and aging. The training programs will have a duration of 4 months and will be periodized so that the duration of the sessions is same between them. The intensity of the interval training will be manipulated by the subjective effort scale (Borg) and by exercise time. The training programs will have a frequency of two sessions per week and a duration of 45 minutes. In order to evaluate the effects of the training, evaluations will be performed before and after the training period. Outcomes: the results will be related to the variables physical fitness, physiomechanics of gait, and indicators associated with quality of live. Data Analysis: Data will be described by average values and standard deviation values. The comparisons between and within groups will be performed using a Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) analysis, adopting a level of significance (α) of 0.05, and Bonferroni post-hoc to identify the differences between the means in all variables. Expected Results: The investigators believe that the better the level of physical fitness, the less likely it is that the elderly will enter into a frame of disability or fragility, especially improving physical fitness when compared to the control group. In addition, strategies to protect the elderly can be formulated through physical programs aimed at preventing the functional capacity and quality of life of the elderly. It is expected that the results of the research will be expandable and the possibility of future developments in the scientific, technological, economic, social and environmental.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* volunteers
* aged over 60 years
* both sexes
* not performing regular physical activity with professional monitoring

Exclusion Criteria:

* not participate in all stages of the evaluation
* severe heart diseases, uncontrolled hypertension, myocardial infarction within a period of less than one year, being a pacemaker;
* stroke or other associated neurological diseases; insanity;
* prostheses in the lower limbs;
* without ambulation conditions.