Body Composition Outcomes of a Qigong Intervention Among Community-Dwelling Aging Adults.

Author: Chang MY1, Chen HY2
Affiliation:
1Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, Taiwan (R.O.C).
2National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan (R.O.C) hychen64@nutc.edu.tw.
Conference/Journal: West J Nurs Res.
Date published: 2016 Dec
Other: Volume ID: 38 , Issue ID: 12 , Pages: 1574-1594 , Word Count: 162


Aging causes various changes in body composition, which are critical implications for health and physical functioning in aging adults. The aim of this study was to explore the body composition outcomes of a qigong intervention among community-dwelling aging adults. This was a quasi-experimental study in which 90 participants were recruited. Forty-eight participants (experimental group) attended a 30-min qigong program 3 times per week for 12 weeks, whereas 42 participants (control group) continued performing their usual daily activities. The experimental group achieved a greater reduction in the fat mass percentage at the posttest, and exhibited increased fat-free mass, lean body mass percentage, and lean body mass to fat mass ratio compared with the controls. No difference between the two groups in body mass index, fat mass, and lean body mass was observed. These results indicated that the qigong intervention showed beneficial outcomes of body composition among community-dwelling aging adults.

© The Author(s) 2016.

KEYWORDS: body composition; body mass index; fat mass; fat-free mass; lean body mass

PMID: 27330046 DOI: 10.1177/0193945916654907

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