The combined effect of physical activity on functional autonomy, body mass index and blood pressure in older women

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the combined effect of physical activity that included the practice of stretching localized exercises, walking and balances for a period of 16 weeks in elderly women and its relationship with functional autonomy, the body mass index and the pressure. METHODS: 54 elderly women were divided into two groups, experimental (EG) (n = 33) with 68,93 ± 6,83 years who participated in the activities proposed and control (CG) (n = 21) with 66,55 ± 6,00 years. RESULTS: The functional autonomy the GE had consistently lower scores in all five tests evaluated which show the benefits from physical activity combined. C10M (10,4 ± 4,5 to 7,9 ± 2,3), LPDV (7,9 ± 4,3 to 6,2 ± 3,6), LCLC (63,8 ± 16,5 to 55,8 ± 12,3) and VTC (18,9 ± 8,7 to 15,6 ± 6,9), but they still remained classified as weak with the exception of LPS test now be classified as regular (12,4 ± 4,3 to 10,5 ± 3,0). The CG remained almost similar values with the pre-test. For BMI, the GE was different after training (29,0 ± 5,2 to 28,4 ± 5,1), while the CG received no differences. For BP, GE obtained difference in SBP after training (145,3 ± 4,3 to 136,2 ± 10,9) and DBP (95,8 ± 8,6 to 85,9 ± 8,6) while GC showed differences only SBP (147,8 ± 12,2 to 140,1 ± 12,8). CONCLUSION: That physical activity combined exerted important role in improving the items valued at 16 weeks of training for older women.