Effectiveness of coordination exercise in improving cognitive function in older adults: a prospective study.

Background: Studies on the effect of a low intensity coordination exercise on the elderly with limited mobility are sparse. This prospective study attempted to compare the effectiveness of a customized coordination exercise and a strength exercise in improving the cognitive functioning and physical mobility on the elderly.

Methods: Participants from two centers for the elderly were allocated to practice either an 8-week coordination training (CT) program or an 8-week towel exercise (TE) program. The Chinese Mini-Mental State Examination and Chinese Dementia Rating Scale (CDRS) were used to measure cognitive functioning of participants, and Timed Up-and-Go test for physical mobility. These assessments were administered before and after the program.

Results: Paired t-tests showed that the CDRS scores of the CT group improved significantly from 114.8 at pre-test to 119.3 after training (P = 0.045). The CDRS scores of the TE group also improved from 114.9 at pre-test to 116.9 after training.

Conclusion: Findings from this prospective study demonstrated that low-intensity level mind-body exercise could be beneficial to the cognitive functioning of older adults.