COMPARISON OF PALMAR PRESSURE STRENGTH AND BALANCE BETWEEN ELDERLY BODYBUILDERS AND SEDENTARY ELDERLY

Abstract

Introduction: To have functional independence, it is necessary to have the muscle strength and balance, however, with aging, it is natural that these capacities and valences deteriorate, but it is well known that a sedentary lifestyle contributes to this process being accelerated. Objective: To compare the palm pressure strength and balance between sedentary elderly and bodybuilders. Methodology: Observational, comparative, cross-sectional, and quantitative study with 26 elderly. The Participants were submmited to the Berg Balance Test to assess balance and risk of falls and Palmar Pressure Dynamometry to measure manual pressure strength. Was adopted a significance level of 5% (p≤0,05). Results: The mean age of the participants was 70,6 years (±7,05). Regarding the palmar pressure strength, there was no significant difference on the left and right between the evaluated groups, owing to the P values were 0,63 and 0,54, respectively. There was no significant difference in the balance presented by the elderly in the research groups, considering that the p value in this comparison was 0,54. However, sedentary individuals had a significantly higher risk of falls (p=0,02) compared to bodybuilders. Conclusion: We found that the results regarding balance and handgrip strength were similar between the elderly practitioners of bodybuilding and sedentary. The sedentary group had a higher risk of falls (33,3% of participants) compared to the bodybuilding group (0%) (p=0,02).