The Effects of Low Resistance Training Using Elastic Band on Muscle Strength, Flexibility, Quality of Life and Ease of Care in Nursing Home Residents: A Pilot Study

Regular exercise and dynamic life style can prevent and treat disability, as well as promote mental health and quality of life. In addition to chronic illness, reduced muscle mass and strength as part of aging, affect the daily activities of living of the elderly and their independent lifestyle. In fact, exercise had found positive effects on lower limb weakness of the elderly. Elastic band is a resistance training aid which can be used for different muscle weight training. The research results have been demonstrated elastic band resistance training is safe and effective strategy to apply in the elderly population and to improve physical fitness, and mental functioning. Therefore, this study will examine the effects of low-resistance elastic band training on muscle strength, flexibility, quality of life and ease of care among the nursing home residents. Nursing homes with more than 50 beds that will be recruited in Qingshui and Waipu district Taichung City. Nursing homes will be randomly assigned to the experimental group and the comparison group. Each group has 20 subjects. The residents in experimental group will receive a low-resistance elastic band training(30 minutes), including warm-up and cold-down period, three times per week for 10 weeks. Residents in control group will receive regular activity in nursing home. Inclusion criteria for the elderly include: (1) living in nursing home over 3 months; (2) communicating with Mandarin and Taiwanese; (3) being able to sit in a chair or wheelchair; (4) can grip elastic band by hands; (5) no severe cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders and mental illness;(6) consciousness intact and their consent to participate in this study. Two structured questionnaires and an assessment checklist of muscle strength, flexibility will be used to collect data at baseline, week 8 and week 12 of exercise. The collected data will be coded and double checked and analyzed by using SPSS Window Release 20.0. The findings of this study can be apply to develop and conduct an effective exercise program through elastic band resistance training to improve residents' strength, flexibility, quality of life and care of ease in Taiwan.