Effects of Underwater Exercise Program with Spa in Elderly Women
- VernacularTitle:高齢者に対する温浴体操の効果
- Author:
Tomihiro SHIMIZU
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
under water exercise;
foot bathing;
rectal temperature;
heart rate
- From:The Journal of The Japanese Society of Balneology, Climatology and Physical Medicine
2006;69(4):251-260
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
-
Abstract:
The purposes of this study were to develop a low-impact underwater exercise program that can be implemented at water temperatures around 40 degrees C, an environment commonly available in many hot-spring bathing facilities in Japan, and further to verify the effectiveness of the program by experiments.
This program assumes three patterns of bathing, i. e., foot bathing, hip bathing, and chest bathing, considering the designs of bathtubs in such facilities. It also incorporates five categories of underwater exercise, i. e., warming up, toning, flexibility exercise, relaxation, and cooling down, for each pattern of bathing.
The underwater exercise program was tried by ten elderly female subjects (aged 67±5).
The results indicated significant differences in rectal temperature and heart rate from those in plain-water bathing but with little physiologic damage. Therefore, these results suggest that the aged can participat in the newly developed underwater exercise program while they are bathing in hot springs.
