Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of muscular strengthening on the level of muscular strength in the neurogenic and myogenic phases and functional autonomy in a population of healthy, sedentary, elderly women.
Material and methods: The sample was composed of 40 women, randomly divided into an experimental group (n=20; 65.62+/-5.36 years) and a control group (n=20; 71.45+/-5.72). A protocol of one repetition maximum (1 RM) was employed to evaluate muscular strength and the battery of tests included in the protocol of the Latin American Development Group for Maturity was used to evaluate functional autonomy. For the statistical analysis, the following tests were used: Kruskal-Wallis (experimental group in relation to three moments) followed by Dunn's multiple comparison test; Student's t-test for dependent samples (control group in relation to two moments) and the Mann-Whitney and Student's t-test for independent samples for Delta% (inter-group comparison).
Results: The results in the experimental group showed a significant increase in the myogenic phase in comparison with the pre-test (p-values: knee extension =0.0001; right knee flexion and left knee flexion=0.0001; straight supine=0.0001; triceps curl=0.0001. Functional autonomy tests showed significant improvements in the experimental group: neurogenic phase (p-values: general autonomy index=0.0089; walking 10 meters=0.0106; standing from a sitting position =0.0005; standing from a ventral decubitus position =0.0061; standing from a sitting position and walking around the house =0.0072; putting on and taking off a shirt =0.0104) and the myogenic phase (p-values: general autonomy index=0.0001; walking 10 meters=0.0005; standing from a sitting position =0.0000; standing from a ventral decubitus position =0.004; standing from a sitting position and walking around the house =0.0059; putting on and taking off a shirt =0.0003).
Conclusions: Thus, strength training only showed statistically significant differences in the myogenic phase; statistically significant reductions were also found in the time needed to perform functional autonomy tests in the neurogenic phase.