Background: The number of older adults using wheelchairs in nursing homes is over 50% of
that population, and many of them use wheelchairs due to muscle weakness in the lower
extremities. Muscles of older adults are trainable, and progressive resistance exercises
using elastic bands can increase muscle strength in older adults.
Objectives: To test the effectiveness of six-month Wheelchair-bound Senior Elastic Band
exercises on the functional fitness of older adults in nursing homes.
Design: Cluster randomized trial.
Settings: Ten nursing homes, southern Taiwan.
Participants: 127 participants were recruited, and 114 of them completed the study.
Inclusion criteria were: (1) aged 65 and over, (2) using wheelchairs for mobility, (3) living
in the facility for at least three months, (4) cognitively intact, and (5) heavily or moderate
dependency in their activities of daily living. The mean age of the participants was 79.15
(7.03) years, and 98.20% of them had chronic illnesses.
Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (five nursing homes,
n = 59) or the control (five nursing homes, n = 55) group based on the nursing homes where
they stayed. A 40-min Wheelchair-bound Senior Elastic Band exercise program was
implemented three times per week for six months for the experimental group participants.
The functional fitness (activities of daily living, lung capacity, body flexibilities, muscle
power and endurance) of the participants was examined at baseline, after three months,
and at the end of the six months study. The mixed-design, two-way analysis of variance
was used to detect the interaction effects, and one-way repeated measures analysis of
variance and analysis of covariance were performed to analyze the within-group and
between-group differences.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 7 3136900.
E-mail addresses: kmc@kmu.edu.tw, kueimin@yahoo.com (K. M. Chen), numa@ms.yuhing.edu.