DISCUSSION
This study conducted an exercise program for the rural
elderly two times each week over an eight-week period.
The resistance exercises using an elastic band effectively
improved the physical abilities and the quality of life of
the rural elderly. After the exercises, the subjects showed
improvements in their physical abilities: left and right upperextremity
arm curls showed improvements, and the score
for sitting and standing up from a chair also increased. In
addition, lower-extremity balance was enhanced, as shown
by improvements in the two-minute step in place test, oneleg
standing time with eyes open, and functional reach. Foot
stepping also improved. The above results agreed with the
outcome of the study by So et al.12)
, in which dumbbell exercises
were performed by the elderly for 12 weeks, twice each
week. They reported statistically significant improvements
in the two-minute step in place test, sitting and standing up
from a chair, and 244 cm walking back and forth after the
exercises. The present study found there were statistically
significant improvements in arm curls, sitting and standing
up from a chair, two-minute step in place test, one-leg standTable
1. A comparison of the physical abilities of the subjects before and after the exercises (n=46)
Items Exercise program
Pre-training Post-training
Strengthen
muscular
endurance
Arm curl-dominant side (times) 46.3±22.1 64.8±26.3*
Sitting and standing up from a chair (times) 39.7±18.4 49.7±23.4*
2-Minute step in place test (times) 94.9±37.0 130.0±41.2*
Balance
One-leg standing- eyes open (sec) 19.6±21.1 27.3±24.2*
One-leg standing- eyes closed (sec) 5.3±6.8 8.4±10.5*
Functional reach- dominant side (mm) 302.8±92.4 372.9±73.8*
Upper-extremity flexibility Back scratch (mm) 147.7±116.8 132.8±110.9
Lower-extremity agility
Timed up and go (sec) 9.8±2.8 9.2±3.5
Foot stepping (times) 21.4±7.3 24.7±8.4*
Tandem walk (sec) 9.9±4.6 9.0±4.6
aMean±SD, *p