Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

12-28-2014

Abstract

Obesity is a major health problem in the USA, especially in minority populations over the age of 60 years, and the aging process can cause adverse effects on physical function. Previous research has shown that Tai Chi, resistance training (RT), and diet result in overall health improvements.However, the combination of these specific interventions has yet to be translated to obese olderwomen in an urban setting.The purpose of this studywas to examine a combined intervention on the primary outcomes of physical function and body composition. Using a nonrandomized design, 26 obese women (65.2 ± 8.1 years) completed a 12-week intervention; participants were assigned to an intervention (EXD) group or a control (CON) group. The EXD group (n = 17) participated in Tai Chi, RT, and a dietary session. The CON group (n = 9) was asked to continue their normal lifestyle. Timed up and go (TUG) time was reduced by 0.64 ± 2.1 seconds (P = 0.04) in the EXD group while the CON group saw a borderline significant increase of 0.71 sec (P = 0.051). The combined intervention helped improve performance on TUG time, but there were no significant increases in other body composition or function measures.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Comment

S. A. Maris, D. Quintanilla, J. Letendre, F. Xu and M. J. Delmonico are from the Department of Kinesiology. A. Taetzsch and I. Lofren are from the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. A. Picard and L. Mahler are from the Department of Communicative Disorvers.

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