No abstract available.
Muscle Strength*

Associated with aging, sarcopenia is characterized by a decline in skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance, eventually resulting in reduced physical capability, disability, poor quality of life, mortality in older people and high health care expenditure. The prevalence varies significantly by population characteristics, disease status, diagnostic criteria and measurement tools. It is essential to achieve an accurate diagnosis of sarcopenia for the management plan to be effective. This review briefly discusses the essential steps in diagnosing sarcopenia: Find – Assess – Confirm - Severity.
Sarcopenia ; Muscle Strength

OBJECTIVE: To examine the intra-rater, inter-rater, and inter-instrumental reliability of the digitalized pinch muscle strength dynamometer. METHOD: Thirty normal subjects were examined for pinch strength, using both the Preston pinch gauge and the digitalized pinch dynamometer. The participants performed all pinch strength tests in the seated position as recommended by the American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT). Three successive measurements were taken for each hand. The mean of the three trials was used for data analysis. The pinch strength tests performed used a repeated measure design and measurements were taken by each rater. RESULTS: The relationship between the Preston pinch gauge and the digitalized pinch dynamometer in pinch strength was reliable (the ICC were 0.821 and 0.785 in rater 1 and rater 2 respectively). The relationship between the first session and second session in pinch strength using the digitalized pinch dynamometer was reliable (the ICC were 0.872 and 0.886 in rater A and rater B respectively). The relationship between rater A and rater B in pinch strength using the digitalized pinch dynamometer was reliable (the ICC was 0.754). CONCLUSION: The pinch strength measurement using the digitalized pinch dynamometer is reliable within the rater and between raters. Thus, the Preston pinch gauge and the digitalized dynamometer measure grip strength equivalently, and can be used interchangeably.
Hand ; Hand Strength ; Muscle Strength ; Muscle Strength Dynamometer ; Pinch Strength ; Statistics as Topic

No abstract available.
Aged* ; Gait* ; Humans ; Muscle Strength*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of aerobics and aquarobics exercise programs on elders' leg muscle strength, balance and walking ability in elders. The participants of the study were 21 elders; 11 of them participated in the aerobics exercise program and 10 of them participated in the aquarobic exercise program. METHODS: Both of the participants practiced for 10 weeks. The data were analyzed with using two-way ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor. RESULTS: The results were summarized as follows: First, the main effect of exercise programs(aerobics x aquarobics) and the interaction effect between the exercise programs and the leg muscle strength were not significant. Second, the participants' static balance of the aquarobics exercise program increased more than that of the aerobics exercise program. Third, the participants' dynamic balance of the aquarobics exercise program increased more than that of the aerobics exercise program. Fourth, the main effect of exercise programs and the interaction effect between the exercise programs and the increase in gait speed were not significant. Fifth, the participants' step length of aquarobics exercise group increased more than that of the aerobics exercise program. All of the participants' leg muscle strength, static balance, dynamic balance, gait speed and step length increased after the both of two exercise programs. And, more importantly, the positive effect of the aquarobics exercise program on static balance, dynamic balance and step length was stronger than that of the aerobics exercise program. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the aquarobics exercise program be more effective exercise on elders' balance and walking ability than the aerobics exercise program.
Gait ; Leg* ; Muscle Strength* ; Walking*

PURPOSE: This examined the effect of Kinesio taping pre-intervention on the pain, tenderness, proprioceptive sensation, and muscle strength associated with delayed onset muscle soreness. METHODS: Thirty subjects were divided into a Kinesio taping application group of 15 subjects and a control non-taped group of 15 subjects, and the changes in individual variables were analyzed before taping and at 24, 48, and 72 hours after taping using two-way repeated ANOVA. Post-hoc t-tests were conducted in the cases with intergroup interactions, and the significance level α was set to α=0.01. RESULTS: The changes in pain during rest were significantly different only for the times, while the changes in pain during exercise were significantly different for the times, interactions between the times and groups, and intergroup changes (p<0.05). The changes in tenderness were significantly different for the times and for interactions between the times and groups (p<0.05). The changes in proprioceptive sensation were significantly different for the times, interactions between times and groups, and intergroup changes (p<0.05). The changes in muscle strength were significantly different only for the times (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The application of Kinesio taping had positive effects on the pain, tenderness, and proprioceptive sensation of delayed onset muscle soreness. These results suggest that Kinesio taping can be a useful therapeutic factor in future studies and in clinical settings.
Muscle Strength ; Myalgia ; Proprioception ; Sensation

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the seniorobic program on physical function and fall in elderly. METHODS: The experimental group and control group was composed of 22 subjects each. The subjects in the experimental group had participated in the seniorobic program for 12 weeks which consisted of exercise and education. Muscle strength, flexibility, balance and the frequency of fall for each subject were measured before, and at the 6th and 12th weeks of the seniorobic program. Data were analyzed using SPSS /WIN 12.0 program. RESULTS: The experimental group had significantly increased their flexibility at the 6th and 12th weeks of the seniorobic program, their the lower limb muscle strength and balance at the 12th week of the seniorobic program. There was no significant difference in the frequency of fall between the experimental group and the control group during the period of seniorobic program. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the seniorobic program can increase lower limb muscle strength, flexibility and improve the balance of the elderly
Aged ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Muscle Strength ; Pliability

We investigated that the relationship between body fat content and maximal muscle strength when skeletal muscle mass was matched. Muscle mass was measured from 140 preliminary selected people, and 30 males were finally selected and divided into one of four experimental groups: low body fat (group 1, ≤11.9%), low-moderate fat (group 2, 12.0%-16.9%), moderate-high fat (group 3, 17.0%-22.9%), high fat (group 4, ≥23.0%). All subjects undertook one repetition maximum (1RM) test of abdominal and back upper body's and lower body's, and bench press, squat, and back strength dynamometer was used. Repeated oneway analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc test was adopted to specify mean differences among groups. Statistical significance level was set at α=0.05. 1RM of bench press was not different among groups (p>0.05) even though values from group 2 was marginally higher (15.9%) than group 1 values (p=0.091). 1RM of squat was higher in group 4 compared to group 2 and group 3 (p<0.05), and maximal back muscular strength was higher in group 1 and group 3 than group 2 (p<0.05). However, total 1RM values, sum of 1RM obtained from different exercises, did not reveal any statistical differences. No notable correlation was found between percent body fat (%BF) and maximal muscular strength. Interestingly, negative correlation of muscular strength was observed between %BF and relative (per kilogram) body mass (p<0.001), but not with between %BF and relative skeletal muscle mass. Therefore, it was concluded that maximal muscular strength is influenced not by fat mass but by skeletal muscle mass.
Adipose Tissue* ; Exercise ; Humans ; Male ; Muscle Strength* ; Muscle, Skeletal

This study designed an isokinetic muscle strength rehabilitation training equipment, based on oil resistance. The equipment detected joint angles during movement through displacement sensors to measure the angular velocity in real-time. Then it can achieve flow resistance adjustment and constant velocity movement, based on the flow area of the proportional valve calculated by PID algorithm and the deviation between the set speed and the measured speed. The equipment can also collect muscle strength during exercise through force-sensitive sensors to achieve real-time and accurate assessment of muscle strength. Moreover, the study preliminarily certificated the isokinetic motion the results showed that the mean error of peak torque test is less than 5%, and the correlation is between 0.89 and 0.92 (
Exercise Therapy ; Humans ; Movement ; Muscle Strength ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Torque

PURPOSE: Aquatic exercise program is known to have positive effects for health maintenance and improvement in inpatients with arthritis. Aquatic exercise program could be a way to obtain wellness in middle-aged women. However, there have been few studies to evaluate physical function. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of aquatic exercise on physical health such as body weight, BMI, muscle strength (grip strength, pinch pressure), and flexibility in healthy middle-aged women. METHOD: The subjects of the study were fifty healthy middle-aged women (40-59 years) who had no experience with exercise. Twenty five subjects were assigned to the experimental group and 25 to the control group. An aquatic exercise program which consisted of approximately one hour of exercise in the water, two days per week, for six weeks was given to the experimental group. Data were gathered from October 2000 to April 2001 using a questionnaire and physical function measure tool (pinch pressure, grip strength, weight, centimeter ruler). Data were analyzed with the SPSS win 10.0 using frequency, t-test, x2 test, paired t-test, and ANCOVA. RESULT: The results of this study are as follows: There were significant differences in body weight, BMI, right, left grip strength and right and left pinch pressure between the two groups. CONCLUSION: From these results, it is concluded that the aquatic exercise program for healthy middle-aged women can be effective in increasing physical health in these women.
Arthritis ; Body Weight* ; Female ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Muscle Strength* ; Pinch Strength ; Pliability* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Water