The effects of kayak paddling exercise with virtual reality on muscle performance and cognitive function in community dwelling older adults

Subjects were evaluated based on the eligibility criteria. 60 subjects who met the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups that each contained 30 individuals. However, one individual in the experimental group was excluded because their program participation rate was less than 80%. Furthermore, two participants did not attend posttests in the control group. Accordingly, the study analyzed 57 subjects. The mean age of the subjects was 77.10 years in the experimental group and 75.64 years in the control group. Experimental group was consist of 4 men and 25 women and control group was included 4 men and 24 women. No significant differences in the baseline values were detected between the two groups (p>0.05), and there was no adverse reaction due to the intervention. Virtual kayak paddling improved the anterior-posterior sway velocity (13.22%, p<0.05), medial-lateral sway velocity (16.42%, p<0.05), and sway velocity-moment (30.75%, p<0.05) with the eyes open compared with the baseline values (p<0.05), and static sway with the eyes closed was also significantly improved. The overall outcomes were better than in the control group (p<0.05). The one leg standing test showed statistically significant differences between the baseline and post-intervention values in the experimental group. In the experimental group, right one leg standing was improved to 105.62% (p<0.05) and left one leg standing was 101.75% (p<0.05). There were significant differences in the changes in the right one leg standing (28200%, p<0.05) and left one leg standing (843%, p<0.05) scores between the groups. The dynamic postural balance capacity was assessed with timed up and go test (TUG), functional reach test (FRT), Burg balance scale (BBS), and four square step test (FSST). All the tests revealed statistically significant changes between the baseline and post-intervention values in the experimental group (TUG: 13.14%, p<0.001; FRT: 17.49%, p<0.001; BBS: 8.55%, p<0.05; FSST: 16.23%, p<0.001). There were significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in the changes in the dynamic postural balance (TUG: 788%, p<0.001; FRT: 510%, p<0.001; BBS: 3890%, p<0.001; FSST: 1192%, p<0.001). Muscle performance was measured using the arm curl test (ACT) and handgrip strength (HS) (right and left). The ACT, RHS, and LHS scores in the experimental group exceeded the baseline values by 28.87% (p<0.001), 15.95% (p<0.001), and 16.82%, respectively (p<0.001). The differences between the two groups were statistically significant for ACT (1246%, p<0.001), RHS (756%, p<0.05), LHS (596%, p<0.05). The cognitive function evaluated with the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) and general practitioner assessment of cognition (GPCOG) test showed significant improvement in the experimental group. Cognitive function improved by 11.37% (p<0.001) according to the MoCA and by 14.50% (p<0.05) as measured using the GPCOG test versus baseline. There were significant differences in the changes in the MoCA (1322%, p<0.001) and GPCOG (1382%, p<0.05) results between the two groups.