to August 20. The exercise program consisted of exercises
to improve upper and lower-extremity muscular endurance
and balance based on exercises using Thera-bands. The
program was conducted in a local community hall and
included a warm-up of ten minutes, main exercises lasting
65 minutes, and a cool-down of five minutes. Among the
senior fitness test items for the elderly developed by Rikli
and Jones, arm curls, 30-second standing up from a sitting
position on a chair, and two-minute step in place test were
used to evaluate the physical abilities of the participants9)
. In
addition, the distance between the two hands of each subject
was measured during his/her back scratching to measure
flexibility. One-leg standing with the eyes open and closed,
and functional reach were also measured to assess balance.
In addition, the timed up and go test, tandem walk test, and
foot stepping were performed to examine lower-extremity
agility10)
. The Korean version of the World Health Organization
Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF questionnaire was
used to assess the effects on quality of life of the changes
in the physical abilities of the elderly11)
. The evaluation
items were divided into four main areas of physical health,
psychological relations, social relations, and environment,
which were further segmented into 26 lower-level items.
Quality of life scores were measured and recorded based on
the subjects’ subjective perceptions of their quality of life in
the 26 lower-level items.
The experimental results were statistically analyzed using
SPSS 22.0 KO (IBM, IL, USA). Frequency analysis and
descriptive statistics were employed to identify the general
characteristics of the subjects. Changes in the physical abilities
and the quality of life after completion of the exercise
program were analyzed using the paired t-test with a statistical
significance level of α= 0.05.