Effectiveness of coordination exercise in improving cognitive function in older adults: a prospective study.
BACKGROUND
Studies on the effect of a low intensity coordination exercise on the elderly with limited mobility are sparse. This prospective study attempted to compare the effectiveness of a customized coordination exercise and a strength exercise in improving the cognitive functioning and physical mobility on the elderly.


METHODS
Participants from two centers for the elderly were allocated to practice either an 8-week coordination training (CT) program or an 8-week towel exercise (TE) program. The Chinese Mini-Mental State Examination and Chinese Dementia Rating Scale (CDRS) were used to measure cognitive functioning of participants, and Timed Up-and-Go test for physical mobility. These assessments were administered before and after the program.


RESULTS
Paired t-tests showed that the CDRS scores of the CT group improved significantly from 114.8 at pre-test to 119.3 after training (P = 0.045). The CDRS scores of the TE group also improved from 114.9 at pre-test to 116.9 after training.


CONCLUSION
Findings from this prospective study demonstrated that low-intensity level mind-body exercise could be beneficial to the cognitive functioning of older adults.
['Kwok|Timothy C Y|TC|', 'Lam|K C|KC|', 'Wong|P S|PS|', 'Chau|W W|WW|', 'Yuen|Kenneth S L|KS|', 'Ting|K T|KT|', 'Chung|Elite W K|EW|', 'Li|Jessie C Y|JC|', 'Ho|Florence K Y|FK|']
D000203:Activities of Daily Living D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D001259:Ataxia D006233:Disabled Persons D005081:Exercise Therapy D005260:Female D016330:Frail Elderly D015577:Geriatric Assessment D006801:Humans D008297:Male D016743:Mental Competency D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care D010806:Physical Education and Training D015397:Program Evaluation D011446:Prospective Studies D011597:Psychomotor Performance D013997:Time Factors
coordination exercise cognitive function elderly Chinese