Publications by authors named "Rantalainen T"

Purpose: While weight-bearing physical activity (PA) benefits bone health, it remains unclear whether PA can counteract hormone-driven menopausal bone deterioration. This secondary analysis of a population-based prospective follow-up study examined changes in bone health indicators around menopause and evaluated whether accelerometer-measured habitual skeletal loading is associated with these changes.

Methods: A total of 189 initially perimenopausal women without estrogen therapy (mean age 52 [SD 2] years) were followed until they became postmenopausal (mean follow-up time 15 [9] months).

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Background: Favorable movement behavior patterns, comprising more physical activity, less sedentary behavior, and sufficient sleep, may promote the maintenance of good quality of life (QoL) with advancing age. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether movement behaviors predict future changes in QoL among community-dwelling older adults over a four-year follow-up.

Methods: Participants were 75-, 80- and 85-year-old community-dwelling older adults (n = 203) followed up for 4 years.

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Background: Despite the observed associations of personality traits with levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB), studies exploring whether the personality profiles differ in terms of the pattern of accumulation of physical behavior are lacking. The aim of this study was to identify adults' personality profiles and to characterize and investigate how these profiles differ in physical behavior.

Methods: The study utilized the longitudinal data of the participants of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (n = 141-307).

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To examine the reciprocal associations between walking performance, physical activity (PA), and perceived autonomy in outdoor mobility in 322 older adults. At baseline and four years later, a 6-min walk test assessed walking performance. A thigh-mounted accelerometer monitored relative PA (acceleration exceeding the individual's preferred walking intensity on the walk test) and absolute MVPA (acceleration exceeding 3 METs) in free-living.

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Functional power-based exercise training can improve physical performance in older adults and cognitive training can improve measures of cognition, but their combined effects on cognition and related risk factors (neurological and inflammatory markers) remains uncertain. This 6-month cluster randomised controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of dual-task functional power training (DT-FPT) on cognition and circulating neurological and inflammatory markers in older adults at increased falls risk, and whether intervention responses varied by apolipoprotein-E (ApoE) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) polymorphisms. Three hundred residents aged ≥ 65 years at increased falls risk residing in 22 independent-living retirement communities, were randomised by village, to DT-FPT (n = 156, 11 villages) involving a multi-component power-based training program performed simultaneously with cognitive and/or motor tasks (45-60 min, 2/week), or a usual care control (CON) group (n = 144, 11 villages).

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Objective: The aim of the study was to conduct exploratory analyses on the role of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and body composition in the association between physical activity and menopausal symptoms.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional (N = 298) study of women aged 51-59 years including a subsample of 82 women followed for 4 years. The severity of menopausal symptoms was assessed with the Menopause Rating Scale in total symptoms as well as using the somato-vegetative, psychological, and urogenital subscales.

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Purpose: Habitual strength and power-demanding activities of daily life may support the maintenance of adequate lower extremity functioning with aging, but this has been sparingly explored. Hence, we examined whether the characteristics of free-living sit-to-stand (STS) transitions predict a decline in lower extremity functioning over a 4-yr follow-up.

Methods: A total of 340 community-dwelling older adults (60% women; age 75, 80, or 85 yr) participated in this prospective cohort study.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study explores the mechanical cost of transport in human walking using a simplified approach that focuses on the center of mass kinematics.
  • It analyzes motion data to calculate velocities, accelerations, and applied forces through inverse dynamics.
  • The findings can inform rehabilitation efforts by providing a simple way to assess gait characteristics based on mechanical cost per step.
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Objectives: We explored the latent profiles based on locomotor skills and cardiorespiratory fitness in Finnish schoolchildren and examined their associations with latent growth curves of osteogenic physical activity (PA) over three years.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: Altogether 1147 Finnish adolescents aged 11-13 years participated in the study.

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Among older people, walking difficulty results from actual and perceived declines in physical capacities and environmental requirements for walking. We investigated whether the physiological complexity of the gait cycle covaries with experience of walking difficulty. Walking difficulty, gait speed, and gait cycle complexity were evaluated among 702 community-dwelling older people aged 75, 80, and 85 years who took part in the six-minute walking test in the research laboratory.

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We identified data-driven multidimensional physical activity (PA) profiles using several novel accelerometer-derived metrics. Participants aged 75, 80, and 85 (n = 441) wore triaxial accelerometers for 3-7 days. PA profiles were formed with k-means cluster analysis based on PA minutes, intensity, fragmentation, sit-to-stand transitions, and gait bouts for men and women.

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Weber, JA, Hart, NH, Rantalainen, T, Connick, M, and Newton, RU. Assessment of ground contact time in the field: evaluation of validity and reliability. J Strength Cond Res 38(1): e34-e39, 2024-The capacity to measure the kinetic and kinematic components of running has been extensively investigated in laboratory settings.

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This study investigated the impact of multimorbidity patterns on physical activity and capacity outcomes over the course of a year-long exercise intervention, and on physical activity 1 year later. Participants were 314 physically inactive community-dwelling men and women aged 70-85 years, with no contraindications for exercise at baseline. Physical activity was self-reported.

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Background: The beneficial effect of acute physical exercise on cognitive performance has been studied in laboratory settings and in long-term longitudinal studies. Less is known about these associations in everyday environment and on a momentary timeframe. This study investigated momentary and daily associations between physical activity and cognitive functioning in the context of everyday life.

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Age-related bone loss is to some extent unavoidable, but it may be decelerated with regular exercise continued into older age. Daily physical activity alongside structured exercise may be an important stimulus for maintaining bone strength, but the relationships of habitual physical activity with bone strength are sparsely investigated in older adults. Therefore, the main aim was to investigate if accelerometer-derived impact-based and intensity-minute-based measures of physical activity were associated with changes in femoral neck bone traits during a 12-month exercise intervention among community-dwelling older men and women.

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Introduction: We examined whether autonomic nervous system (ANS) and postural control regulation during orthostatic test reflect physical resilience by studying their associations with maximal walking speed and mortality.

Methods: The participants were community-dwelling Finnish men (n = 303) and women (n = 386) aged 75, 80, and 85 years at baseline. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory rate, and postural sway were obtained using a digital sphygmomanometer, a single-channel ECG, and thigh- and chest-worn accelerometers.

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Objective: To study associations of menopausal symptoms with cardiometabolic risk factors.

Study Design: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study of a representative population sample of 1393 women aged 47-55 years with a sub-sample of 298 followed for four years. The numbers of vasomotor, psychological, somatic or pain, and urogenital menopausal symptoms were ascertained at baseline through self-report.

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Introduction: The bone-specific physical activity questionnaire (BPAQ) provides a bone-relevant index of physical activity participation according to the mechanical loads experienced across the life span.

Materials And Methods: We aimed to examine relationships between historical bone-relevant physical activity and pQCT-derived parameters of bone strength. We recruited 532 healthy volunteers (277 males, 255 females) across a broad age range (4-97 years).

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Purpose: Five times sit-to-stand (STS) test is commonly used as a clinical assessment of lower-extremity functional ability, but its association with free-living performance has not been studied. Therefore, we investigated the association between laboratory-based STS capacity and free-living STS performance using accelerometry. The results were stratified according to age and functional ability groups.

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Osteoporosis is a consequence of spinal cord injury (SCI) that leads to fragility fractures. Visual assessment of bone scans suggests regional variation in bone loss, but this has not been objectively characterised. In addition, substantial inter-individual variation in bone loss following SCI has been reported but it is unclear how to identify fast bone losers.

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Although suboptimal bone health has been reported in children and adolescents with low motor competence (LMC), it is not known whether such deficits are present at the time of peak bone mass. We examined the impact of LMC on bone mineral density (BMD) in 1043 participants (484 females) from the Raine Cohort Study. Participants had motor competence assessed using the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development at 10, 14, and 17 years, and a whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan at 20 years.

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Objectives: We investigated the associations of accelerometry-derived osteogenic indices (OIs), moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA), and vigorous intensity physical activity (VPA) with peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pCQT) parameters in 99 adolescents aged 10-13 years.

Methods: Bone parameters were assessed at the distal (4%) and shaft (66%) of the tibia using pQCT. Accelerometers were worn on the right hip for 7 consecutive days.

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Aims: Individuals with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and low motor competence (LMC) may be at increased risk of low bone health due to their lifetime physical activity patterns. Impaired bone health increases an individual's risk of osteoporosis and fracture; therefore, it is necessary to determine whether a bone health detriment is present in this group. Accordingly, this systematic review explores the association between DCD/LMC and bone health.

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Objectives: The aim of this preplanned secondary analysis of a 12-month randomised controlled trial was to investigate the effects of a multicomponent exercise programme combined with daily whey protein, calcium and vitamin D supplementation on cognition in men with prostate cancer treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

Design: 12-month, two-arm, randomised controlled trial.

Setting: University clinical exercise centre.

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Purpose: Assess and describe the physical demands and changes in subjective wellbeing of recruits completing the 12 week Australian Army Basic Military Training (BMT) course. Methods: Thirty-five recruits (24.8 ± 6.

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