Comparative study of three methods of adapted physical activities

The goal of this study is to compare the efficiency of the adapted physical activity in three different manners (walking and balance exercises and muscles reinforcement) on elderly persons in rehabilitation to a traditional rehabilitation. The study was realized on 30 patients including 18 women and 12 men. The average age is 82 years old. At the beginning and the end of the training, the patients were tested using: gait speed, moving speed (Time up and go test), static and dynamic balance (Berg balance scale), strength of lower limbs (30-second chair-stand test) and functional independence. The group Walking shows a significant improvement on the whole test, between the pre-test and the post-test, two weeks later. The results show an significant effect of the practice of adapted physical activity, independently of the age of the patients, on the whole tests. The stagnation of the progress between two and four weeks, which concerns mainly the oldest (more than 85 years old), underlines the importance of the early care of the patient, and the necessity to emphasize the stresses during the two first weeks of the care to obtain more progress, especially with the walking course.