Long Distance Running Training by Older Adults

NCT ID: NCT01475448

Last Updated: 2015-05-05

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 34 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2012-01-31
• Study Completion Date: 2012-10-31

Brief Summary

The goal of this project is to understand the effect of regular practice of long distance running on the posture and movement control of older adults.

For such, the investigators will conduct an experiment with longitudinal design where sedentary elderly individuals will be trained in long distance running for about 4 months.

Detailed Description

In a study the investigators conducted about elderly runners, the main observed difference by the first time was that elderly individuals present greater foot abduction (toe-out) during running than young adults. This alteration has been observed in elderly individuals in general during walking, and identified as a protective mechanism to not overload the medial compartment of the knee joint. It is also known that elderly individuals present a different joint torque distribution in the lower limbs during walking in comparison with young adults. However, it's not known the relation between the movement patterns, particularly the foot abduction pattern, and the mechanical load on the knee joint during running by elderly individuals and neither the longitudinal effect of running practice on this relation and on the mechanical joint load distribution. Another unknown aspect is the actual effect of the running practice on the posture control of elderly individuals.

With this project, the investigators want to understand why elderly individuals change their movement pattern during running, to determine for the same subjects if this altered pattern is also present during walking and standing, and to determine the effect of running practice on the elderly posture control. Our hypotheses are that the strategy of greater foot abduction is present in all movement tasks and that the use of this strategy is related to the integrity of the knee joint, even considering the highly active elderly individuals and that the practice of running contributes for a better postural control in this population.

These findings will contribute for a greater understanding of the benefits of the practice of running and the adaptations developed by the elderly runners and in this way to contribute for the prescription of this activity to the elderly population.

Conditions

Physical Activity; Aging

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Sedentary older adults - running

Sedentary older adults (60 years old or more) recruited from local community

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Long distance training

Intervention Type: OTHER

Long distance training during four months, 3 times per week

Sedentary older adults - walking

Sedentary older adults (60 years old or more) recruited from local community

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Walking training

Intervention Type: OTHER

Walking training during four months, three times per week

Interventions

Long distance training

Long distance training during four months, 3 times per week

Intervention Type: OTHER

Walking training

Walking training during four months, three times per week

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Sedentary
• Independent bipedal locomotion

Exclusion Criteria

• Inapt for practicing physical activity
• Severe alteration of the muscle-skeletal system
• Cognitive or neurological deficit
• Use of orthosis for locomotion

• Minimum Eligible Age: 60 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 85 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Sao Paulo

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Marcos Duarte

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Marcos Duarte

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Federal University of ABC

Locations

Laboratory of Biophysics

São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Countries

Brazil

Other Identifiers

FR-262790

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id