%0 Journal Article
%T Aerobic Capacity of Elderly Women Engaged in Controlled Physical Activity
%A Rubens C¨¦sar Lucena da Cunha
%A 
%A 
%A M¨¢rcia de Assun  o Ferreira
%A Jane Cl¨¦ria Pereira Bezerra
%A Ialuska Guerra
%A Est¨¦lio Henrique Martin Dantas
%J Journal of Human Kinetics
%@ 1899-7562
%D 2010
%I 
%R 10.2478/v10078-010-0008-3
%X The objective of this study was to evaluate the aerobic capacity of elderly participants in the family health program at Health Municipal Secretary, who were submitted to a regular program of physical exercise. This experimental study had a sample size of 98 hypertensive elderly women. The sample was divided randomly into an experimental group (EG; n=58, age: 67¡À6 years) and a control group (CG; n=40; age: 70¡À6 years). Aerobic capacity was evaluated by a six-minute walking test (WT6). The intervention program was conducted three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), between 17:00 and 17:45 hours, with an intensity that varied from 55% to 75% of the theoretical maximum heart rate. Student's paired t-tests or Wilcoxon tests were utilised in the intra-group analysis (for homogenous or heterogeneous distributions of the data, respectively). An ANOVA two-way parametric test was used to evaluate the inter-group data followed by the Scheffe post hoc test. A value of p<0.05 was adopted for statistical significance. The results revealed an increase in distance travelled in the EG in the post-test relative to the pretest (¦¤= 70.58 m; p<0.0001) and relative to the CG post-test (¦¤= 116.58 m; p<0.0001). Furthermore, the CG travelled less distance in the post-test than in the pre-test (¦¤= -0.78 m; p=0.003). Therefore, we infer that a walking regimen of controlled intensity improves the distance travelled by elderly women in the WT6 by increasing their aerobic capacity.
%K physical exercise
%K aerobic capacity
%K six-minute walking test (WT6)
%K elderly women
%U http://versita.metapress.com/content/h700663u47478093/?p=0865021e7014478dbcdeeef9b7052d43&pi=7