Background: Recent studies suggested that pedometer-based walking programs are applicable to older adults.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of pedometer in sedentary older adults to improve physical activity, fear of falling, physical performance, and leg muscle mass.
Design: This was a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT).
Setting and participants: Eighty-seven community dwelling sedentary older adults living in Japan.
Intervention: The intervention group (n=43) received a pedometer-based behavioural change program for 6 months, while the control group (n=44) did not. The participants in the intervention group were instructed to increase their mean daily steps by 10% each month. Thus, at the end of 6 months, participants in the intervention group were expected to have 77 % more daily steps than their baseline step counts. Written activity logs were monthly averaged to determine whether the participants were achieving their goal.
Measurements: Outcome measures were physical activity, fear of falling, physical performances, and leg muscle mass.
Results: In this 6-month trial 40 older adults (93%) completed the pedometer protocol with good adherence. In the intervention group, average daily steps were increased by 83.4% (from 20311323 to 3726 1607) during the study period, but not in the control group (from 20471698 to 22671837). The pedometer-based behavioral change program was more effective to improve their physical activity, fear of falling, locomotive function, and leg muscle mass than control (P<0.05).
Conclusion: These results suggested that the pedometer-based behavioral change program can effectively improve the physical activity, fear of falling, physical performance, and leg muscle mass in sedentary older adults.