Proposing an underwater exercise program to increase respiratory muscle strength in the elderly

Ageing societies are more and more common across the world, placing growing emphasis on elderly care. Although elderly care has been implemented, these systems were developed prior to the growth in ageing societies and, in addition, life expectancies have since increased which means that elderly people require care for longer. It is not enough to focus on the ease of provision of care and extending life, elderly care must also focus on improving health and wellbeing and elevating quality of life. These standards of care will also be applicable to disabled people and help create healthier societies. Professor Yoshihiro Yamashina and Hiroki Aoyama, Aino University, Japan, are introducing more effective, low impact exercises in order to improve elderly care, with a specific focus on enhancing respiratory muscle strength. This could help reduce the risk of diseases such as atelectasis and pneumonia and is important because pneumonia is a common cause of suffering and death in the elderly population. For those who are unable to undertake high impact sport, such as the elderly and people with injuries or chronic pain, aquatic exercises are effective. Yamashina and Aoyama are working to better understand how water can be used to strengthen the respiratory muscles.