This study was aimed to test the effects of a meridian cuffing exercise, the Healthy Beat Acupunch (HBA) regimen, on the functional fitness and cardiopulmonary functioning of community older adults. A single-blind, cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. We randomly allocated eight community care centers to the intervention or control group and recruited 228 participants who completed the study (intervention: four centers, n = 111; control: four centers, n = 117). The intervention group underwent a 40-min session of HBA regimen 3 times per week for 6 months. Functional fitness and cardiopulmonary functioning were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months of the intervention. The intervention group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in functional fitness and cardiopulmonary functioning than the control group between baseline and either 3 months or 6 months. We suggest that activities designed to promote health among community older adults include acupunch exercises.

This study tested the effectiveness of a 6-month vitality acupunch (VA) exercise program on muscle mass, hand grip strength, and sleep quality in institutional older adults with probable sarcopenia. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 103 older adults were assigned to the experimental group ( n = 52) and control group ( n = 51) according to the institution they inhabited. After the 6-month VA exercise intervention, the experimental group showed significant increases in muscle mass ( F = 5.93, p = .017), hand grip strength ( F = 56.73, p < .001), and improved sleep quality ( F = 23.20, p < .001) compared to the control group. Based on the meridian theory that promotes qi and blood circulation, VA exercise has positive effects on muscle mass, hand grip strength, and sleep quality in older adults with probable sarcopenia.

Maintaining functional fitness and the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) is important to older adults with the highly prevalent condition of probable sarcopenia in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) (Marty et al., 2017;Yalcin et al., 2016). Critchley (1931) noted age-related muscle loss as early as in 1931. In 1989, the term "sarcopenia" was proposed to define age-related muscle mass

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