AIM The aim of the study was to compare the effects of conventional exercise (CE), swimming and walking on the pulmonary functions, aerobic capacity, quality of life, Bath indexes and psychological symptoms in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). METHODS Forty-five patients were randomised into either swimming (group 1), walking (group 2), CE group (group 3). Patients in Group 1 perform...

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to describe the effect of locomotor training on a treadmill for three individuals who have an incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). [Subjects and Methods] Three indivduals (2 males, 1 female) with incomplete paraplegia participated in this prospective case series. All subjects participated in locomotor training for a maximum of 20 minutes on a motorized treadm...

Osteoarthritis of the knee (kOA) is a disease that mainly affects the elderly and can lead to major physical and functional limitations. However, the specific effects of walking, particularly on the immune system, are unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the effect of 12 weeks of walking (3×/week) on the leukocyte profile and quality of life (QL) of elderly women with kOA. Sixteen wo...

In a previous study we demonstrated that while people with CFS had lower daily activity levels than control subjects, they were able to increase daily activity via a daily walking program. We reanalyzed our data to determine the time course of activity changes during the walking program. Daily activity assessed via an accelometer worn at the hip was divided into sleep, active, and walking perio...

INTRODUCTION Aging has a profound effect on all the body organs and quality of life. One of the appropriate interventions is exercises such as walking. Nevertheless, the risk of falling and its complications are lower in stationary walking than walking on ground. Due to the higher life expectancy in women than men, the increasing number of elderly, and the low quality of life of women compared ...

In a rapidly aging society, like that in Japan, it is imperative to establish strategies to prevent dementia. We investigated the effects of a dementia prevention program, conducted as part of a municipality’s long-term care prevention project, on cognitive/motor functions among the community-dwelling elderly. Participants underwent a physical activity program involving muscle training and aero...

Despite documented efficacy and recommendations, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been underutilized. Home-based PR was proposed as an alternative, but there were limited data. The adequate exercise intensity was also a crucial issue. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of home-based PR with a metronome-guided walking pace on fun...

A 6 week labyrinth walking program was pilot tested in a correctional setting and goals were to: 1) determine the feasibility of a labyrinth walking curriculum; 2) pilot test measures of health related quality of life (QOL) (pre and post-surveys) and blood pressure; and 3) examine the influence of relationship-centered teaching on subject satisfaction. Relational communication was used as a fra...

BACKGROUND Although task-oriented training has been shown to improve walking outcomes after stroke, it is not yet clear whether one task-oriented approach is superior to another. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the Motor Learning Walking Program (MLWP), a varied overground walking task program consistent with key motor learning principles, to body-weight-supported t...

BACKGROUND Falls are common among elderly, most of them occur while slipping or tripping during walking. We aimed to explore whether a training program that incorporates unexpected loss of balance during walking able to improve risk factors for falls. METHODS In a double-blind randomized controlled trial 53 community dwelling older adults (age 80.1±5.6 years), were recruited and randomly allo...