Yoga to Prevent Mobility Limitations in Older Adults

NCT ID: NCT03544879

Last Updated: 2019-10-21

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 46 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-01-06
• Study Completion Date: 2014-06-30

Brief Summary

The loss of mobility during aging impacts independence and leads to further disability, morbidity, and reduced life expectancy. The study objective was to examine the feasibility and safety of conducting a randomized controlled trial of yoga for older adults at risk for mobility limitations. The investigators hypothesized that sedentary older adults could be recruited for the study, would attend either yoga or a health education control, would complete assessments, and that the interventions could be safely delivered.

Conditions

Aging; Mobility Limitation; Sedentary Lifestyle

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Yoga

The yoga intervention consisted of 2x weekly 60-minute sessions for 10 weeks. Yoga consists of postures, breathing exercises, movement, and meditation/concentration..

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Yoga Intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The 60-minute yoga sessions began with a brief breathing practice led by the instructor. The yoga instructor then led students through yoga poses at a gentle pace using chairs as props as needed. The pace of the class increased slowly over time as students became more familiar and more capable with the poses. Meditation and breathing was followed by chair poses (15-20 minutes), standing poses (10-15 minutes), floor poses (15 minutes), and lastly a supine resting pose (Savasana; 10 minutes). In the Silver Age Yoga method at that time, there were 73 available postures overall including: 35 Chair Postures, 18 Standing Postures, 20 Floor Postures, with a typical class covering 20-25 poses.

Health Education

The health education comparison intervention consisted of once weekly, 90-minute health information workshops conducted in group format. Sessions generally consisted of a 60-minute lecture followed by 30 minutes of questions and discussion.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Healthy Aging Education

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The health education comparison intervention consisted of once weekly, 90-minute health information workshops conducted in group format. The 90-minute sessions generally consisted of a 60-minute lecture followed by 30 minutes of questions and discussion. The lecture titles for Weeks 1-10 were as follows: Introduction/ Exploring Communication, The Science of Successful Aging, Acupuncture 101: How it Works \& What it is Good for, Quality of Life/Quality of Well Being, Fighting Cancer With Your Fork, Forgiveness via Shakespeare's: A Winter's Tale, Better Eyesight in Minutes a Day, Brain Fitness, The Importance of Organic Foods/ Organic Gardening, How Dementia Can Be Modified. Lectures were provided by a mix of credentialed experts (physicians/psychologists, etc) and other clinicians. Instructors were asked not to talk about yoga or medication in their lectures. Content was not otherwise closely monitored.

Interventions

Yoga Intervention

The 60-minute yoga sessions began with a brief breathing practice led by the instructor. The yoga instructor then led students through yoga poses at a gentle pace using chairs as props as needed. The pace of the class increased slowly over time as students became more familiar and more capable with the poses. Meditation and breathing was followed by chair poses (15-20 minutes), standing poses (10-15 minutes), floor poses (15 minutes), and lastly a supine resting pose (Savasana; 10 minutes). In the Silver Age Yoga method at that time, there were 73 available postures overall including: 35 Chair Postures, 18 Standing Postures, 20 Floor Postures, with a typical class covering 20-25 poses.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Healthy Aging Education

The health education comparison intervention consisted of once weekly, 90-minute health information workshops conducted in group format. The 90-minute sessions generally consisted of a 60-minute lecture followed by 30 minutes of questions and discussion. The lecture titles for Weeks 1-10 were as follows: Introduction/ Exploring Communication, The Science of Successful Aging, Acupuncture 101: How it Works \& What it is Good for, Quality of Life/Quality of Well Being, Fighting Cancer With Your Fork, Forgiveness via Shakespeare's: A Winter's Tale, Better Eyesight in Minutes a Day, Brain Fitness, The Importance of Organic Foods/ Organic Gardening, How Dementia Can Be Modified. Lectures were provided by a mix of credentialed experts (physicians/psychologists, etc) and other clinicians. Instructors were asked not to talk about yoga or medication in their lectures. Content was not otherwise closely monitored.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• age 60-89 years
• self-reported sedentary lifestyle (not exercising in the past 3 months; included walking at a brisk pace or regular walking for exercise purposes)
• SPPB summary score > 3 and ≤ 8
• willingness attend either yoga or health education for 10 weeks
• willing to complete two assessments
• residence in San Diego metropolitan area
• provided a physician-signed health clearance form.

Exclusion Criteria

• practiced yoga > 2x in the last year
• life expectancy < 12 months.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 60 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 89 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of California, San Diego

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Erik Groessl

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

References

Groessl EJ, Maiya M, Schmalzl L, Wing D, Jeste DV. Yoga to prevent mobility limitations in older adults: feasibility of a randomized controlled trial. BMC Geriatr. 2018 Dec 12;18(1):306. doi: 10.1186/s12877-018-0988-8.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 30541474 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

130472

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id