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Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)”

Background: Assessing traditional neuromuscular fall risk factors (i.e., balance, gait, strength) in the elderly has so far mainly been done independently. Functional and integrative testing approaches are scarce. The present study proposes an agility course for an integrative assessment of neuromus...

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Autores principales: Lichtenstein, Eric, Faude, Oliver, Zubler, Aline, Roth, Ralf, Zahner, Lukas, Rössler, Roland, Hinrichs, Timo, van Dieën, Jaap H., Donath, Lars
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367497/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30774602
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00044
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author Lichtenstein, Eric
Faude, Oliver
Zubler, Aline
Roth, Ralf
Zahner, Lukas
Rössler, Roland
Hinrichs, Timo
van Dieën, Jaap H.
Donath, Lars
author_facet Lichtenstein, Eric
Faude, Oliver
Zubler, Aline
Roth, Ralf
Zahner, Lukas
Rössler, Roland
Hinrichs, Timo
van Dieën, Jaap H.
Donath, Lars
author_sort Lichtenstein, Eric
collection PubMed
description Background: Assessing traditional neuromuscular fall risk factors (i.e., balance, gait, strength) in the elderly has so far mainly been done independently. Functional and integrative testing approaches are scarce. The present study proposes an agility course for an integrative assessment of neuromuscular and also cardiocirculatory capacity in seniors – and tests its criterion validity and reliability. Methods: Thirty-six seniors (age: 69.0 ± 2.8 years; BMI: 25.4 ± 3.5 kg/m(2); sex: 19 males/17 females; weekly physical activity: 9.4 ± 5.5 h) participated. They completed four trials of the Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)-course in two sessions separated by 1 week. The course consists of three segments focusing on different agility aspects. Cardiovascular capacity was assessed by 6-min walk test (6MWT), neuromuscular capacity by static, dynamic and perturbed standing balance tasks, habitual gait speed assessment, and rate of torque development testing. Parameters’ predictive strength for the ACE performance was assessed by regression analysis. Reliability was calculated with intraclass correlation coefficients and coefficients of variation. Results: Men completed the course in 43.0 ± 5.7 s and women in 51.9 ± 4.0 s. Overall and split times were explained by 6MWT time ([Formula: see text] = 0.38–0.44), gait speed ([Formula: see text] = 0.29–0.43), and to a lesser extent trunk rotation explosive strength ([Formula: see text] = 0.05–0.12). Static and dynamic balance as well as plantar flexion strength explained the performance in some segments to a very small extent ([Formula: see text] = 0.06–0.08). Good between- and within-day reliability were observed for total course and split times: The ICC for the between-day comparison was 0.93 (0.88–0.96) and ranged between 0.84 and 0.94 for split times. The within-day ICC was 0.94 (0.91–0.97) for overall time and 0.92–0.97 for split times. Coefficients of variation were smaller than 5.7% for within and between day analyses. Conclusion: The ACE course reflects cardiocirculatory and neuromuscular capacity, with the three ACE segments potentially reflecting slightly different domains of neuromuscular (static and dynamic balance, ankle, and trunk strength) performance, whereas cardiocirculatory fitness and gait speed contribute to all segments. Our test can detect changes in overall performance greater than 5.7% and can thus be useful for documenting changes due to interventions in seniors.
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spelling pubmed-63674972019-02-15 Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)” Lichtenstein, Eric Faude, Oliver Zubler, Aline Roth, Ralf Zahner, Lukas Rössler, Roland Hinrichs, Timo van Dieën, Jaap H. Donath, Lars Front Physiol Physiology Background: Assessing traditional neuromuscular fall risk factors (i.e., balance, gait, strength) in the elderly has so far mainly been done independently. Functional and integrative testing approaches are scarce. The present study proposes an agility course for an integrative assessment of neuromuscular and also cardiocirculatory capacity in seniors – and tests its criterion validity and reliability. Methods: Thirty-six seniors (age: 69.0 ± 2.8 years; BMI: 25.4 ± 3.5 kg/m(2); sex: 19 males/17 females; weekly physical activity: 9.4 ± 5.5 h) participated. They completed four trials of the Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)-course in two sessions separated by 1 week. The course consists of three segments focusing on different agility aspects. Cardiovascular capacity was assessed by 6-min walk test (6MWT), neuromuscular capacity by static, dynamic and perturbed standing balance tasks, habitual gait speed assessment, and rate of torque development testing. Parameters’ predictive strength for the ACE performance was assessed by regression analysis. Reliability was calculated with intraclass correlation coefficients and coefficients of variation. Results: Men completed the course in 43.0 ± 5.7 s and women in 51.9 ± 4.0 s. Overall and split times were explained by 6MWT time ([Formula: see text] = 0.38–0.44), gait speed ([Formula: see text] = 0.29–0.43), and to a lesser extent trunk rotation explosive strength ([Formula: see text] = 0.05–0.12). Static and dynamic balance as well as plantar flexion strength explained the performance in some segments to a very small extent ([Formula: see text] = 0.06–0.08). Good between- and within-day reliability were observed for total course and split times: The ICC for the between-day comparison was 0.93 (0.88–0.96) and ranged between 0.84 and 0.94 for split times. The within-day ICC was 0.94 (0.91–0.97) for overall time and 0.92–0.97 for split times. Coefficients of variation were smaller than 5.7% for within and between day analyses. Conclusion: The ACE course reflects cardiocirculatory and neuromuscular capacity, with the three ACE segments potentially reflecting slightly different domains of neuromuscular (static and dynamic balance, ankle, and trunk strength) performance, whereas cardiocirculatory fitness and gait speed contribute to all segments. Our test can detect changes in overall performance greater than 5.7% and can thus be useful for documenting changes due to interventions in seniors. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-02-01 /pmc/articles/PMC6367497/ /pubmed/30774602 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00044 Text en Copyright © 2019 Lichtenstein, Faude, Zubler, Roth, Zahner, Rössler, Hinrichs, van Dieën and Donath. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Physiology
Lichtenstein, Eric
Faude, Oliver
Zubler, Aline
Roth, Ralf
Zahner, Lukas
Rössler, Roland
Hinrichs, Timo
van Dieën, Jaap H.
Donath, Lars
Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)”
title Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)”
title_full Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)”
title_fullStr Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)”
title_full_unstemmed Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)”
title_short Validity and Reliability of a Novel Integrative Motor Performance Testing Course for Seniors: The “Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE)”
title_sort validity and reliability of a novel integrative motor performance testing course for seniors: the “agility challenge for the elderly (ace)”
topic Physiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367497/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30774602
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00044
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