Muscular strength and quality of life in elderly women

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of exercise training on the levels of strength and quality of life in elderly women, considering the functional capacity, physical limitations, pain, general health, vitality and social relationship variables in institutionalized elderly. METHODS: The study participants were 36 elderly women over 60 years old, recruited in the Social Service of Commerce (SESC), city of São Luís, state of Maranhão, Brazil, divided in tw groups: the sedentary group (n=16) and training group (n=20). All were 60 years or more, had not performed strength training for six months and had no restrictions on this practice. Before and after training, it was determined maximal isometric muscle strength of the extensors of the lumbar spine and knee, the elbow flexors and abductors of the shoulder, using the dynamometer NPRO2000. We used the SF-36 questionnaire to assess te quality of life. Training was conducted for 12 weeks with twice-weekly sessions of 60 minutes. The intensity was set by the zone of maximum repetitions (3-4 sets, 8-12 reps) and the order of exercises changed every four weeks. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student t test program SPSS 10.0. RESULTS: The sedentary group did not achieve any statistically significant value in any variable studied; the training group achieved statistically significant scores and percentage values of strength gain, respectively, in knee extensors (p=0.0032, 30.23%) and extensors of the lumbar spine (p=0.0207; 12.33%). The results obtained in evaluating the quality of life showed statistically significant percentage increase in the functional capacity (p=0.0092; 11.05%), general health (p=0.0075; 14,17%), vitality (p=0.0015, 15.38%) and mental health (p=0.0154; 9.64%) of elderly submitted to strength training. CONCLUSION: The strength training proposed in this study caused a significant increase in muscle strength that reflected in the improvement of quality of life in the domains of physical functioning, general health, vitality and mental health of elderly women submitted to strength training.