Effects of cursor freeze time on the performance of older adult users on mouse-related tasks

Effects on older adult Women's precision, strength and flexibility from resistance training and handicrafts practice

INTRODUCTION

As individuals age, they experience a gradual decline in strength, flexibility, and precision control. While resistance training has shown positive effects on aging, little is known about how beneficial handicrafts could be in effectively promoting motor improvements in aging. This study aimed to compare manual precision, manual grip strength, and upper limb flexibility among three groups of older adult women: (a) regular practitioners of resistance training, (b) regular practitioners of handicrafts, and (c) insufficiently active participants who did not engage in either regular resistance training or handicraft practice.

METHODS

A total of 30 women (mean age = 67.86, SD = 7.01) were divided equally into the three groups (n = 10 per group). The participants were asked to perform a manual manipulative precision test, a manual grip strength test, and an upper limb flexibility test.

RESULTS

The participants in the resistance training group exhibited superior precision and strength compared to those in the handicraft group, as well as better precision, strength, and flexibility compared to the control group participants. The handicraft group demonstrated better precision and upper limb flexibility compared to the control group.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, while resistance training was particularly beneficial for improving these motor skills, engaging in handicrafts also proved to be an effective means of maintaining and/or enhancing certain important motor abilities.

Interdisciplinary Co-Design Research Practice in the Rehabilitation of Elderly Individuals with Chronic Low Back Pain from a Senior Care Center in South Korea

The rehabilitation practices encounter multifaceted problems inherent in the current context of the elderly with chronic low back pain (LBP). We addressed a particular multifaceted problem in the current context using an interdisciplinary co-design research practice that consists of three phases: context exploration, patient-expert interaction, and patient-centered rehabilitation. Using an empirical study integrated with this practice, we investigated 30 Korean elderly patients suffering from LBP and introduced an exercise program design. In the context exploration phase, we found that the elderly patients neglected proper posture during work causing spine instability and resultantly developing chronic LBP. The patient–expert interaction phase explored latissimus dorsi (LD) and lumbar erector spinae (LES) muscles as the back trunk muscles that had caused LBP in most of these elderly patients. In the patient-centered rehabilitation phase, we designed an exercise program with exercise protocols and an exercise object for flexion and extension of trunk muscle relaxation and stabilization. Using electromyography (EMG), we found that the exercise program significantly increased the muscle activation levels of the muscles and reduced LBP. Our practice defines and addresses a multifaceted problem with several challenges both in healthcare design and the problem itself. This integrated approach can easily be expanded and adapted to other domain-related research projects that possess characteristics of complex problems.