Clinical trial NCT05675631: Effects of Suspension Training in Older Adults
Official title: Effects of Suspension Training Versus a Traditional One in the Elderly Population: a Randomized Clinical Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Old Age; Atrophy
Keywords: Suspension
Older adult
Balance
Strength
Prevention
Lead sponsor: University of Valencia
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-01-09
Enrollment: 65
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 60
Maximum age (years): 85
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Traditionally, tools that use unstable surfaces have been used to increase the difficulty of exercises by stimulating the recruitment of a greater number of motor units. A new method is suspension training. It uses the weight of the body and the principles of moments of forces to improve the recruitment of motor units. The difficulty that stimulates this recruitment depends on the amount of instability caused by the suspension apparatus and the position of the body.

So this type of training in the elderly can be very interesting due to the ease of adaptation, since it can be used as a facilitating method or to increase the difficulty.

It seems that suspension training can have positive effects that will have a direct impact on the quality of life of the elderly, due to improvements in different aspects such as gaining strength and improving balance, consequently reducing the risk of falling. . It is a good alternative to gain strength and improve functional mobility and upper trunk strength in the elderly, to other exercises such as elastic bands, since they produce similar effects.

For all these reasons, the program tries to demonstrate that suspension training can be an effective tool to improve the quality of life and reduce the risk of falls in the elderly.

Detailed description: This research originates from the curiosity of wanting to prove that exercise in the elderly is more than recommended, specifically suspension training.

Traditionally, tools that use unstable surfaces have been used to increase the difficulty of exercises by stimulating the recruitment of a greater number of motor units. A new method is suspension training. It uses the weight of the body and the principles of moments of forces to improve the recruitment of motor units. The difficulty that stimulates this recruitment depends on the amount of instability caused by the suspension apparatus and the position of the body.

So this type of training in the elderly can be very interesting due to the ease of adaptation, since it can be used as a facilitating method or to increase the difficulty.

Additionally, an unstable resistance training situation stresses/taxes the neuromuscular system and can promote a greater gain in strength and increase the cross-sectional area. It can also increase motor unit recruitment and improve neuromuscular coordination without an increase in mechanical load when performing push-ups under unstable conditions. Because TRX exercises involve normal resistance, they can potentially improve strength by facilitating the use of large and fast-twitch muscle units, increasing muscle coordination and stimulating the musculoskeletal system, and increasing the number of muscle fibers. Suspension work increases the activation of most muscle groups involved in suspension training (push-ups, inverted row, prone bridge and hamstring curl) compared to traditional training.

Likewise, for the upper extremity it improves significantly as well as training with elastic bands. Improves the handgrip. Due to the constant use of suspension elements. For the lower extremity, a very high activation of the biecps femoris and semitendinosus (\<90% MVIC), hamstrings, gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and adductor lagus have been observed. In relation to balance, it has been observed that suspension training has more notable positive effects on it than in traditional training due to the constant adaptation and participation of the CORE in the different exercises. On the other hand, regarding the fear of falls, it has been observed that, in medium and high intensity programs, this fear decreases as the participants feel more confident. In this type of study, positive effects have also been shown on sleep quality through the PSQI, positive effects on stride after high intensity and positive changes in body composition: higher percentage of water at the cellular level, with which better value of PhA and better cellular health. Finally, another possible advantage is the ease of installation of the material and its affordable price, since traditional training often requires more expensive machines and tools.

It seems then that suspension training can have positive effects that will have a direct impact on the quality of life of the elderly, due to improvements in different aspects such as gaining strength and improving balance, consequently reducing the risk of suffering a drop. It is a good alternative to gain strength and improve functional mobility and upper trunk strength in the elderly, to other exercises such as elastic bands, since they produce similar effects.

For all these reasons, the program tries to demonstrate that suspension training can be an effective tool to improve the quality of life and reduce the risk of falls in the elderly.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Older adults between 60 and 85 years

Exclusion Criteria:

* Not wanting to sign the informed consent.
* Present pathology of the central nervous system that negatively affects balance, strength or compression; or cardiac pathologies in which strength exercise is contraindicated.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Hand Grip Test
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week)
measure: Hand Grip Test
timeFrame: Post-treatment (7 week)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: 5 Times Sit-to-Stand Test
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week), post-treatment (7 week)
measure: One leg balance
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week), post-treatment (7 week)
measure: Functional Reach
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week), post-treatment (7 week)
measure: Test Get-Up and Go
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week), post-treatment (7 week)
measure: Walking speed test
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week), post-treatment (7 week)
measure: Quality of live (EQ-5D)
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week), post-treatment (7 week)
measure: Falls Efficacy Scale International
timeFrame: Baseline (0 week), post-treatment (7 week)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Valencia
country: Spain
facility: University of Valencia
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Valencia
name: David Hernández-Guillén, PT, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: