An evaluation on the efficacy of "General Exercise for the Elders" on endurance, strength, balance, flexibility and quality of life

Objective: The study is aimed at evaluating the efficacy of the 'General Exercise for the Elders' (GEFE) programme on aerobic endurance, strength, balance, flexibility and quality of life. Design: This was a 12-week randomized clinical trial. There were two groups: GEFE intervention group and control group. Subjects: 80 elderly members were recruited from Elderly Health Centres and randomly assigned to either GEFE group or control group. Main outcome measures: These included aerobic endurance using 6 minutes walk test, lower limb strength using Nicholas manual muscle tester, balance using Functional reach test, flexibility using Y-way's test and Quality of life using SF-36 questionnaire. Process measures were included. Analysis of covariance was used to compare the final measurements between groups with baseline measurements as covariates using SPSS 10.0. Results: There were altogether 67 subjects. Significant improvement in aerobic endurance and lower limb strength was noted between the two groups. No injury or accident happened throughout the study. Conclusion: GEFE training improved subjects' aerobic endurance and lower limb strength. The lack of significant benefit in balance and flexibility can be enhanced by individualized exercise programme specifically targeting these 2 areas.