The long-term objective of our application is to provide practical knowledge that has the potential of reducing injury risk and frailty, and enhancing quality of life, among older people. A creative geriatric research environment exists within Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University School of Nursing , and their institutional affiliates, the Wesley Woods Geriatric Teaching and Research Hospital and Clinics and the V.A. Medical Center-Atlanta. Multidisciplinary resources within this site are addressing biomedical, behavioral, and environmental factors that have significance for """"""""successful"""""""" aging and reduction of frailty risk in older persons. The intervention studies proposed in this application are novel, conceptually different, therapeutic exercise approaches that promise, based on preliminary data, to reduce the loss of functional capacities and prevent falls-related injuries in older persons by improving skeletal muscle strength, flexibility, balance, cardiovascular endurance, social functioning, and self-confidence. This proposal specifically aims to study carefully matched samples of elderly subjects to determine the relationship of individual static exercise (balance training with feedback about center of weight displacement) and dynamic group exercise (modified after the principles of Tai Chi, a fitness program practiced by the elderly in Eastern cultures) to frailty. In collaboration with other sites, we wish to collect reliable data for a defined geriatric population including: demographics; measures of health, functional status (physical, psychosocial, cognitive) and environmental status; mobility and activity levels; numbers of falls; and falls-related trauma. We will delineate operational definitions of frailty within biomedical, behavioral and environmental domains and systematically examine the effects of these novel exercise interventions versus a control condition on our conceptualization of frailty in elderly subjects over a 15-week study period and at a 4-month followup. The goal is to identify interventions generating sustained health behaviors that can be incorporated into daily routines and lifestyles of older persons.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
5U01AG009124-03
Application #
2050600
Study Section
Aging Review Committee (AGE)
Project Start
1990-04-16
Project End
1995-06-30
Budget Start
1992-03-01
Budget End
1995-06-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1992
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Emory University
Department
Physical Medicine & Rehab
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
042250712
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30322
Wolf, Steven L; Barnhart, Huimnan X; Kutner, Nancy G et al. (2003) Selected as the best paper in the 1990s: Reducing frailty and falls in older persons: an investigation of tai chi and computerized balance training. J Am Geriatr Soc 51:1794-803
Ory, Marcia G; Lipman, Paula Darby; Karlen, Patricia L et al. (2002) Recruitment of older participants in frailty/injury prevention studies. Prev Sci 3:1-22
Wolf, S L (2001) From tibialis anterior to Tai Chi: biofeedback and beyond. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 26:155-74
Wolf, S L; Barnhart, H X; Ellison, G L et al. (1997) The effect of Tai Chi Quan and computerized balance training on postural stability in older subjects. Atlanta FICSIT Group. Frailty and Injuries: Cooperative Studies on Intervention Techniques. Phys Ther 77:371-81; discussion 382-4
Kutner, N G; Barnhart, H; Wolf, S L et al. (1997) Self-report benefits of Tai Chi practice by older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 52:P242-6
Wolf, S L; Coogler, C; Xu, T (1997) Exploring the basis for Tai Chi Chuan as a therapeutic exercise approach. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 78:886-92
Connell, B R; Wolf, S L (1997) Environmental and behavioral circumstances associated with falls at home among healthy elderly individuals. Atlanta FICSIT Group. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 78:179-86
Wolf, S L; Barnhart, H X; Kutner, N G et al. (1996) Reducing frailty and falls in older persons: an investigation of Tai Chi and computerized balance training. Atlanta FICSIT Group. Frailty and Injuries: Cooperative Studies of Intervention Techniques. J Am Geriatr Soc 44:489-97
Wolf, S L; Kutner, N G; Green, R C et al. (1993) The Atlanta FICSIT study: two exercise interventions to reduce frailty in elders. J Am Geriatr Soc 41:329-32
Wolf, S L (1992) Looking at the future through windows of opportunity. Biofeedback Self Regul 17:245-59