Balance and trunk muscle activity, both decrease as
you age and are proven to increase the chance of falls. Exercise is proven to
help increase muscle activation and balance but has not been explored with a
horse riding simulator. This study was aimed to help decrease the risk of
falling in the elderly by using a horse riding simulator to increase stability
and trunk muscle activation.
Thirty elderly people were chosen at random to go into
a control group or into the experiment. The people had to be, over 65 years
old, have no experience in falling, be able to walk ten meters without
assistance, have no disease that would affect the result and score over 24
points in the Mini-Mental State Examination. The Mini-Mental State Examination
is used to screen for dementia.
During the experiment, the people would exercise on
the horse riding simulator, 5 times a week for 20 minutes each time. A horse
riding simulator, uses the exercise and balance part of horse riding, by
simulating a horse ride that is more controlled. This way the people using the
horse riding simulator are safe and in their comfort zone while also getting
the benefits of riding a horse. The machine moves up and down, left to right
and anterior to posterior. They would also warm up for five minutes before. The
experiment went on for eight weeks in total. The simulation would only go at
gaits that the “rider” would feel comfortable with. EMG signals on the core
muscles were collected to look at muscle activation. Bioescue was used to
measure the stability.
For the results, all muscle activations increased
highly in the group that exercised on the horse riding simulator. The muscle
activation of the control group had some muscles decrease and no change in
others. Before the experiment all of the people had around the same levels. These
results were determined by the EMG signals collected over the period of the
experiment.
The researchers believe, since the horse riding
simulator focused for on the hips and knee, this would help the person from
falling because it is thought that the elderly try to focus on the ankle more
than the hip and knee. This means when the ankle fails that the person is more
likely to fall. With the now more stable hip and knee, after the horse riding
simulator, the elderly have more to try to balance with, than just the ankle.
Also with the horse riding simulator, compared to
other strengthening exercises, this one helps the person not only with
strengthening the muscles but with learning how to be stable and balanced.
Stability and balance will help preventing falling and you get the benefit on
strengthening the muscles. For the elderly doing a different exercise for
stability and strengthening could be tiring and with the simulator, you get
both done in a shorter time with the same benefits as doing them separately. One
problem with the study was that the study was not followed up on to see how the
people were doing later on and if it actually reduced the risk of falling or
not.
Compared to other exercises this one was not only
effective, but interesting to people. Instead of just doing exercises, you
could have an experience. The horse riding simulator was fun and could be
hooked up with visuals to make them feel more like they were riding a horse.
I found this article to be interesting because my
parents are getting older and as they age I worry about them falling. This
could be an interesting exercise for them to do earlier in their life, as a preventive
measure and to keep them healthier by continuing to move as they age. Could
this be a good idea for your friends or relatives?
References:
Kim, Seong-Gil, Lee, Jung-Ho. “The Effects
of Horse Riding Simulating Exercise on Muscle Activation and
Limits of Stability in the Elderly.” Archives
of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Volume
60 (2015) pgs. 62-65 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167494314001976
“Candice rides LuLu” by Lulu the Riding
Simulator https://flic.kr/p/7QLnyG Photo
Credit.
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