Effect of treadmill training on the fitness and activation of cerebral cortex in older adults and youth / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Aging process is associated with declines in physical fitness and cognitive function, and proper exercise can improve the body function. Treadmill training has advantages of non-full weight-bearing and adjustable trampling resistance, so it has been widely used in clinical rehabilitation training, but whether treadmill training can enhance the cognitive function of individual brain needs an in-depth study. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether the effect of treadmill training on older adults and youth is the same. METHODS: Forty-three healthy volunteer college teachers in universities were recruited, and divided into older adult group (n=18, aged 60-75 years) and youth group (n=25, aged 25-45 years) according to the age characteristics. Each person was trained for 4 consecutive weeks of treadmill training. The 6-minute walking, 10-m walking, muscle strength of lower limbs and transcranial magnetic stimulation test were performed before training, at 4 weeks of training and 1 month after training. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Before training, the amount of physical activity in the older adult group was higher than that in the youth group, but the functional walking, muscle strength of lower limbs and degree of cerebral cortex activation were worse than those in the youth group. After 4 weeks of treadmill training, there was a significant improvement in the functional walking and muscle strength of lower limbs in both groups, the improvement rate of 6-minute walking and leg muscle strength showed no significant difference between groups, but the improvement rate of 10-m walking in the youth group was significantly higher than that in the older adult group. At 1 month after training, 4-week treadmill training exerted a continued effect on the 6-minute walking and leg muscle strength in youth, and 4-week treadmill training exerted a continued effect on the 10-m walking in older adults. The action threshold, motor evoked potentials and cerebral cortex movement area of either brains in older adults were poorer than those in youth. Four-week treadmill training showed no significant effect on the cerebral cortex activation in older adults and youth. In summary, 4-week treadmill training can effectively enhance the ability of functional walking and muscle strength of lower limbs in older adults and youth, and the treadmill training can achieve almost the same improvement and continuation effect between older adults and youth. However, whether treadmill exercise can improve the cerebral cortex activation in older adults and youth needs an in-depth study.