Resumo

HUERTA BARRRERA, Luz Nayeli; RUIZ PADILLA, Beatriz  e  RODRIGUEZ GUTIERREZ, Maria Cristina. Women's physical status, before and after an exercise program. Enferm. univ [online]. 2010, vol.7, n.3, pp.29-37. ISSN 2395-8421.

Introduction: Physical status is the expression of several body functions, and its progressive impairment represents a health problem; therefore, it is necessary to promote healthy habits in people so that they can enjoy a high quality of life for as long as possible. Objective: To address the physical status changes in sedentary women before and after their participation in an exercise program. Methodology: Prospective study, addressing the physical status of 47, 45-60 year-old, sedentary women before and after an exercise program. The SPSS v16 was used to obtain central tendency, dispersion, and correlation data. Results: In the first assessment, strength, hip flex-elasticity, and hand flex-elasticity were found to be the most impaired. In the second assessment, the physical capacities which showed statistically significant average increments were; strength (1.2 kg), visual reaction velocity (1.1 msec), trunk flex-elasticity (3.6 cm), and hand flex-elasticity (0.9 cm). Discussion: We agree with Sanchez Pinilla that the capacity to improve physical performance will depend on the quantity and type of exercise involved. Conclusion: Considering the results, this study can be a reference to help analyze the effects of exercise on the physical status.

Palavras-chave : Physical status; quality of life; adult; physical exercise.