Background: During aging, loss of muscle strength (dynapenia) combined with unhealthy lifestyles and sedentarism can lead to functional limitations and dependency; currently there is still limited evidence about multicomponent training as a treatment for dynapenia and dependence in ambulatory older women.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of a multicomponent physical exercise program (VIVIFRAIL) on physical functionality in elderly ambulatory women with dynapenia.
Design, setting and participants: A non-randomized clinical trial was realized in 61 ambulatory older women (65-80 years old) with dynapenia that belonged from two Integral Gerontological Centers (IGC) of Hidalgo, Mexico, from June to December 2019.
Intervention: The control group (CG) received the physical daily training applied in the IGC (yoga, cardio-dance or tai chi) and the intervention group (IG) participated in a multicomponent program training (resistance, flexibility, balance and gait) called "VIVIFRAIL" for 12 weeks, minimum 3 weekly sessions of 45-60 minutes.
Measures: All participants were evaluated at baseline (0 weeks), intermediate (6 weeks) and final (12 weeks), evaluations included glucose, blood pressure (SBP and DBP), anthropometric test, body composition evaluation and functional performance test with Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT), muscle strength and a falls risk short test.
Results: 52 older women completed the study, mean age was 71.9 ± 4.46. According to SPPB passport classification was 1 Type A, 1 Type B+, 9 Type C, 7 Type C+ and 9 Type D. After 12 weeks of intervention, statistical analysis showed that multicomponent exercise significantly improved strength (p=<0.001), gait speed (p<0.001), standing from a chair (p<0.001) and TUGT (p<0.001). About falls risk, intervention group went from 70% to 12.5% while control group went from 52.4% to 63.6% (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Older women who completed the 12 weeks multicomponent exercise program significantly improved their functionality in muscle strength, gait speed (3mt and 6mt), standing from a chair and TUGT tests. Also, it showed a significantly decrease in falls risk, therefore, this type of intervention can reduce the risk of frailty in the elderly.
Keywords: Aged; exercise therapy; muscle strength; physical functional performance.