Development and Evaluation of the Healthy Beat Accupunch (HBA) Exercise Program for the Community Older Adults

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Functional Fitness
• Interventions: Other: control; Other: Healthy Beat Accupunch exercise program

• Registration Number: NCT02567864
• Lead Sponsor: Kaohsiung Medical University

Brief Summary

The goals of this research project were: 1) to develop a senior-tailored Healthy Beat Accupunch (HBA) exercise program for community-dwelling older adults, 2) to test the effects of a six-month, instructor-led HBA exercise program, and 3) to evaluate the feasibility, compliance, and long-term effects of a six-month, DVD-guide HBA exercise program.

Detailed Description

A three-year, longitudinal, triangulation research method was applied. First Year (Phase I): A preliminary HBA exercise program, including hard copy descriptions and DVD demonstrations of each exercise, was mailed to the 16 experts in the Delphi advisory panel for their critique and evaluation. First Year (Phase II): A quasi-experimental, one-group, pretest-posttest design was used to pilot-test the feasibility of the HBA exercise program on a group of 31 community-dwelling older adults in a community care station. Second Year: A cluster randomized controlled trial was used to test the effects of a six-month, instructor-led HBA exercise program on the functional fitness (cardiovascular-respiratory function, body flexibility, muscle strength, and muscle endurance) of the community-dwelling older adults. Through the use of convenience sampling strategy, eight community care stations with 232 older adults in Kaohsiung were recruited and randomly assigned based on their community care stations to a HBA experimental group or a wait-list control group. Participants in the experimental group received the HBA exercise program led by trained and certified instructors, three times per week, 40 minutes per practice for six months; participants in the wait-list control group continued with their regular daily activities. One pre-test and two post-tests, three months apart, were conducted. Third Year: Using the same method as in the second year, participants from the second year continued practicing the HBA exercise program, but guided by a DVD, for another six months. The feasibility, compliance, and effectiveness of the DVD-led HBA exercise program on the community-dwelling older adults were tested, and another two post-tests, three months apart, were conducted on the same outcome measurements as in the second year.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2014-07-12
• Study First Submitted: 2015-09-29
• Study First Submitted QC: 2015-10-01
• Study First Posted: 2015-10-05
• Status Verified: 2017-05
• Primary Completion: 2017-05-05
• Study Completion: 2017-05-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-05-10
• Last Update Posted: 2017-05-12

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 232

Inclusion Criteria

• community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and over
• Mandarin or Taiwanese speakers
• able to stand and walk without assistive devices
• cognitive alert and able to verbally state their name, address, and answer questions.

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Exclusion Criteria

• participants with severe and acute cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, or pulmonary illnesses.

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
control	control	The control group maintains daily activities.
Healthy Beat Accupunch	Healthy Beat Accupunch exercise program	The HBA exercise program includes: 1) warm-up: 5 slow and gentle exercises to regulate qi, loosen up the body, and elevate the energy for a safe transition to the next phase, 2) accupunch: 14 low-to-medium speed exercises to punch the 14 meridians to enhance the cardiovascular-respiratory workout, and 3) relaxation: 5 low-speed, muscle relaxing exercises with deep breaths to sooth the body and mind. It is conducted 3 times per week and 40 minutes per practice.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
TruZoneTM Peak Flow Meter	12 months	Lung Capacity
Back Scratch Test	12 months	Upper Body Flexibility
Chair Sit-and-Reach Test	12 months	Lower Body Flexibility
Arm Curl Test	12 months	Upper Limbs Muscle Endurance
Chair Sit-to-Stand Test	12 months	Lower Limbs Muscle Endurance
Digital Sphygmomanometer	12 months	Blood Pressure
Two-minute Step Test	12 months	Aerobic Endurance
Digital Handgrip Dynamometer	12 months	Hand-Grip Strength

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Barthel Index	12 months	ADL
chronic pain	12 months	pain scale

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Kaohsiung Medical University; 🇨🇳 Kaohsiung, Taiwan