Increased Velocity Exercise Specific to Task (InVEST) training: a pilot study exploring effects on leg power, balance, and mobility in community-dwelling older women.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a dynamic form of weighted vest exercise suitable for home use and designed to enhance muscle power, balance, and mobility.

DESIGN: A single-blind, randomized, controlled trial.

SETTING: Outpatient exercise research facility situated within an academic long-term care center.

PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one community-dwelling women aged 70 and older with a Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score between 4 and 10 (out of 12).

INTERVENTIONS: Subjects were randomized into a progressive resistance-training program using weighted vests for resistance with exercises designed to be specific to mobility tasks and have a component performed at the fastest possible velocity (Increased Velocity Exercise Specific to Task (InVEST), n=11) or a control exercise group (control, n=10), which performed slow-velocity, low-resistance exercise. Both groups exercised three times a week for 12 weeks.

MEASUREMENTS: Changes in muscle power, balance, and physical performance were compared.

RESULTS: In comparison to control group, InVEST group manifested significant improvements (P<.05) in leg power across measurements obtained at 75% to 90% of the one-repetition maximum. Both groups demonstrated significant improvements in chair stand and SPPB score from baseline, and the InVEST group showed significant improvements in gait speed and chair stand from baseline (P<.05). InVEST produced significantly greater changes in chair stand time than control (P<.05).

CONCLUSION: InVEST training appears be an effective means of enhancing leg power and chair rise in this population and is worthy of further investigation as a means of enhancing balance and mobility.