The effect of regular walking and its combination with manual therapy or re-sistance exercise on the 6-minute walking distance in healthy elderly

Abstrakt

Starting point: The global aging population is growing rapidly, and preventive exercise programs are essential for maintaining seniors' overall health. Walking-based programs, resistance exercises, and manual therapy each offer individual benefits, but there is limited research on the combined effects of these interventions. Investigating how these interventions work together could lead to more effective strategies for enhancing health outcomes in older adults.

Group: This study involved 88 non-sedentary, non-smoking seniors with no specific comorbid conditions.

Methods: All participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: walking group, walking + manual therapy group, walking + resistance exercise group or control group. There were two assessments performed, pre-intervention and post-intervention determining 6-minutes walking distance (6MWD).

Results: The walking group showed a significant decrease in 6MWD, while the walking + manual therapy group exhibited a significant increase in 6MWD. Neither the walking + resistance exercise group nor the control group showed any change in 6MWD over time.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that combining walking with manual therapy may be an effective way to enhance cardiopulmonary fitness in healthy elderly individuals. According to available literature, regular walking alone, or in combination with resistance exercise, can positively impact seniors' health when appropriately tailored to their fitness levels.