Dongheon Kang, Heejae Kim, Donghyun Yoon, Jinsoo Kim, Wook Song

Health and Exercise Science Laboratory, Institute of Sports Science, Institute on Aging, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea


Background: Exercise has shown to slow down the progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia. In particular, not only resistance exercise has been verified to improve physical performance and muscle strength, leading to the prevention of fall-related injuries in the frail elderly, but also cognitive function. In this study, we investigated how high-speed elastic band training, applied using a high-speed power training protocol, affects cognition, physical performance and muscle strength of female elderly individuals with MCI.
Methods: Thirty-nine subjects diagnosed with MCI from one senior college using a Korean version of mini-mental state examination (MMSE-K) and a Korean version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-K) were randomly divided into exercise group (n=20) and control group (n=19). The exercise group completed a 12-week high-speed resistance elastic band exercise program and was encouraged to exercise at home as well during the intervention period.
Results: The results showed significant increases in cognitive function, physical performance and muscle strength assessed by digit span forward test (P<0.001), digit span backward test (P=0.003), the Stroop test B (P=0.031), SPPB scores (P=0.010), right knee 60° extensor peak torque (P=0.004), 60° flexor peak torque (P=0.001), 180° extensor peak torque (P=0.020) and grip strength (P=0.025)
Conclusions: Our study showed that participants with MCI who continued the high-speed elastic band training program for 12 weeks showed improvements in cognitive function, physical performance and muscle strength.
Korean J Health Promot 2014;14(1):26-32

Keywords: Mild cognitive impairment, Resistance training, Cognition, Muscle strength, Aged