STRENGTH TRAINING IMPROVES WALKING IN ELDERLY

Report #6770 3/26/96

The vast majority of americans over the age of 70 walk slowly with an unsteady gait. A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that a program to strengthen their leg muscles helps them to be able to walk longer, with greater coordination, and at a faster pace.

Most older Americans have such weak leg muscles that they can't get out of a chair without using their hands. As a result, they are unsteady on their feet and have to walk with a wide-based stance to keep their balance. 24 healthy men and women, 65 years of age or older, started a weight lifting program to strengthen their arms and legs. After 12 weeks, they were able to walk for 9 minutes longer than previously and the greater the gain in strength, the greater the increase in endurance.

If you are over 65 and would like to be able to walk longer and faster, start a strength-training program. Machines are easier to use than free weights and are far less likely to injure you. You need to perform only two exercises: a leg press in which you sit in a chair and push a weight away with your feet and a knee extension in which you straighten your knee against resistance. Three times a week, try to lift a weight that is comfortable for you ten times in a row, rest as long as you want/ and then repeat a set of ten. Do this workout for each of the two exercises.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News