A single-arm feasibility study of community-delivered Baduanjin (Qigong practice of the eight Brocades) training for frail older adults

Abstract

Background: Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome, characterized by reduced physiologic reserve and increased vulnerability to stressors, due to cumulative decline in multiple physiological systems. We studied the feasibility of a community-delivered Baduanjin (BDJ) training program among pre-frail/frail community-dwelling older people. We examined (1) safety (adverse events) and physical and psychological effects; and (2) feasibility of recruitment, retention, adherence; recruitment efforts, and any program challenges, so as to inform future studies. Methods: Our study was a single arm pre-post study in a community setting. Sixteen-week group BDJ training (2×/ week in the first 4 weeks and 3×/week thereafter) was co-designed and implemented by community-based providers in Singapore. Recruitment, attendance, and adverse events were recorded throughout the training. A participants' survey was also administered after the training program. Effects of the intervention on physical and functional outcomes (hand grip strength, knee extension strength, Time Up and Go (TUG), Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA), 30-s Sit-to-Stand test, 6-m fast gait speed test), frailty outcomes (frailty score and status), and other outcomes (Maastricht Questionnaire (MQ), Fall Efficacy Scale (FES), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and EQ-5D-5L) were examined before and after the program.

Qigong for Muscle Strength and Static Postural Control in Middle-Aged and Older Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Our findings showed that the handgrip strength of the 12 week Baduanjin-based training group was significantly higher after the intervention, and also as compared with the control group at the post-intervention assessment. Our result was in accordance to that of Liu et al (29), who verified the positive effects of Baduanjin on handgrip strength, but, unlike our work, their study involved frail older adults and did not use comparisons with a control group, and to the study by Peng et al (30) in which they observed improvements in grip strength in the group that carried out a Baduanjin training for 12 weeks but in a sample of university students. In contrast, Tsai et al (31) found no statistically significant differences in grip strength of middle-aged women, after 8 weeks of another Chi Kung modality known as Ching Ching.…”

Effectiveness of a community-delivered pneumatic machine resistance training programme (Gym Tonic) for older adults at neighbourhood senior centres – a randomized controlled trial

“…Our evaluation included robust, pre-frail and frail individuals living in the community, which cannot be generalised to institutionalised older adults. While we adjusted for sex in all analyses, our study participants were mostly women, which is consistent with earlier studies showing that community exercise programmes attract mainly women [37][38][39]. Future studies should investigate the sex-specific effects on community-delivered pneumatic machine resistance training.…”

“…These findings highlight the importance of training specificity in older adults. In addition to resistance exercise, targeted training programmes for power, flexibility, balance and/ or endurance, can be complementary to mitigate other age-related physical or functional decline [37][38][39].…”

Baduanjin Exercise for Adults Aged 65 Years and Older: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Studies

“…Advancing age is also correlated with heart failure, pain symptoms, and mortality (Bell et al, 2015;Strand et al, 2018). As a result, there is a growing concern for older adults' health and well-being, which has led to an exploration of interventions to promote physical activity in this population (Liu et al, 2020).…”