Moderate exercise helps maintain mobility in older adults

"These are people who are patients we see every day. This is why this study is so important: It includes a population that is typically understudied," principal investigator Marco Pahor, director of the UF's Institute on Aging said.

The participants were randomly separated into two groups and followed for an average of 2.6 years. The first group of 818 walked 150 minutes per week and did strength, flexibility and balance training. The second group of 817 attended health education classes and performed upper body stretching exercises. The study occurred between February 2010 and December 2013.

The researchers assessed study participants every six months, checking their ability to walk, their body weight, blood pressure and pulse rate, among other measurements.

The result is that the loss of ability to walk 400 meters was experienced by 246 participants in the physical activity group and 290 participants in the health education group.

"As an exercise scientist, I believe this type of research is absolutely critical to establish scientific evidence on which to make recommendations for how lifestyle can beneficially influence health status," said Wendy Kohrt, professor of medicine in the division of geriatric medicine at the University of Colorado, who helped review the scientific merit of the study before the launch of the main LIFE trial.

"The LIFE trial demonstrated that a modest increase in physical activity has the potential to help older adults maintain functional independence," Kohrt added.