Caracterização por acelerometria do tempo e intensidade da prática de caminhada realizada por idosos em um espaço público

Abstract

Characterization by acelerometry of the time and intensity of the walking practice carried out by elderly in a public space Walking is an activity that can be practiced as a form of physical exercise by the elderly population, as it does not present difficulties for its practice. The purpose of this study was to characterize the intensity and duration of the elderly walking practice in a public space in the city of Fortaleza, based on the measure of accelerometry. Thirty-seven elderly people of both sexes, walkers, participated in the study. During the walk, the elderly used a belt containing the Actigraph GT9X accelerometer to record intensity, time and intensity / time relationship data. The shortest recorded walking session time was 11 minutes, while the longest session time was 56 minutes. It was observed that 55.6% of those surveyed walked less than 30 minutes, while 44.4% did not reach 30 consecutive minutes of walking. The session that obtained the lowest number of counts registered a total of 3007.2 counts, while the largest number of counts reached 6868.9. It was recorded that, for absolute intensity, no one moved in light intensity, being recorded as a maximum percentage of 100% for the moderate and vigorous intensities. However, for relative intensity, the accelerometer recorded 9.1% of session time at light intensity, but 10 recording maximum values for moderate and vigorous intensities, as well. The cutoff points, when separated from thousand to one thousand, recorded 48.2% of the time of a session in the range of 2001-3000 counts, while for 4001-5000 it was recorded 100% of the time of one session. Thus, it can be concluded that the elderly reach the intensity recommendations necessary to generate health benefits, but the amount of walking time is considered insufficient.