Strength and Balance Integration in Maintenance Cardiac Rehabilitation for Older Adults

Summary

The goal of this cluster randomised clinical trial is to investigate the impact of adding strength and balance exercises into traditional aerobic-based Cardiac Rehabilitation Community/Maintenance classes on the functional fitness of older adults.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. To explore participants' functional fitness changes,
2. Confidence in balance,
3. Concerns about falling compared to those participating in traditional aerobic-based cardiac rehabilitation only.
4. Understand the perceptions of participants regarding the addition of strength and balance into classes.
5. Understand the views of exercise professionals delivering the classes with additional strength and balance.

Participants:

1. Will get their Functional fitness measured using the Functional Fitness MOT at baseline, and carry out questionnaires on their current physical activity levels, confidence in balance and concerns about falling.
2. The traditional aerobic-based cardiac rehabilitation classes (Clusters) will be randomised into Intervention Groups (additional strength and balance added) and usual care (Control Groups).
3. After 12 weeks, Functional Fitness and the questionnaires will be reassessed.
4. Two weeks after the 12-week follow-up, participants will be invited to an online focus group on Microsoft Teams to understand their perceptions of strength and balance.
5. Additionally, exercise Leaders will be invited to an interview on Microsoft Teams to discuss their views on strength and balance incorporation into maintenance cardiac rehabilitation classes.

Conditions

• Cardiac Rehabilitation
• Older Adults (50-94 Years)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Strength and balance added to traditional aerobic-based cardiac rehabilitation

Exercise Leaders will add strength and balance exercises into the session (approximately 20 minutes in each 60 minute class) for the 12 weeks of the study. Instructors will be provided with a video showing a variety of potential exercises they could add into their class (approximately 10 strength and 10 balance exercises (dynamic and static). It is their discretion which exercises they put into their classes and can alter them within the selection between classes, allowing them to tailor to their particular group abilities. The exercises have been chosen as they have been added, without any adverse events, to 5 classes in the local area courtesy of one instructor who found her clients needed more strength and balance work in their sessions to improve their stability during the endurance work. Anecdotally, most participants fed back to the instructor that these exercises had helped their balance and stability.

BEHAVIORAL

Control Group

Traditional aerobic-based cardiac rehabilitation only

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Glasgow Caledonian University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Dawn A Skelton, PhD · Glasgow Caledonian University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Max Age

100 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-02-02

Primary Completion

2026-06-01

Completion

2026-06-01

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations