Development of Home-Training Exercise to Improve Lower Physical Function of the Elderly Women (using baseball massage and self-resistance exercise)

This study aims to develop a home-training exercise program to improve lower extremity function in elderly women. Accordingly, through the Plan-Do-Check-Act (hereinafter PDCA) model, a program was developed and applied to evaluate its usability. In the first cycle, the program was developed (P), applied (D), and structured (A) through qualitative evaluation (C). The program was developed by combining baseball massage and self-resistance exercise, and was applied to seven elderly women over 65 years of age twice a week for a total of 12 weeks. The program was implemented non-face-to-face (Zoom, Jitsi-meet) with an instructor once a week, and at-home exercise was conducted through home training once a week. In the process of running the program, operations that needed to be excluded or modified were identified, and the program was structured to reflect this. In the second cycle, the structured program from the first cycle was applied to 15 elderly women twice a week for a total of 8 weeks, and changes in lower limb function of a total of 15 people were evaluated. As a result, compared to before participating in the program, there was a positive improvement in all items, including lower limb flexibility (p-value<.001), lower limb strength (p-value<.001), and dynamic agility (p-value<.001). appear. Baseball massage and self-resistance exercise to improve the lower limb function of the elderly through 2 cycles of PDCA is a program with a high compliance rate and no injuries or side effects, and can be used as a home-training method that can contribute to improving lower limb function. This has been confirmed.