Duration of the project:

Lead partner:

University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences

Postdoc researcher

Assist. Prof. Darjan Smajla (SICRIS, ResearchGate)

Abstract:

The project will design the foundations for the training of the elderly with a new approach (flywheel exercise), which includes adapting the flywheel device for greater safety and stability and creating the foundations of a protocol that will be appropriate to the gender and age of the individual in terms of intensity, quantity and frequency. In this way, we will lay the foundations for personalization strategies of flywheel exercise for the elderly.

In addition, to evaluate the effects of flywheel exercise, we will prepare a test battery for a comprehensive evaluation of the motor function of the elderly. The key motor skills that represent comprehensive motor function will be evaluated: strength and power, balance, mobility and kinesthesia.

After adaptation of the flywheel device, setting the basic principles for training the elderly and preparing a test battery, we will perform an intervention part, which will examine the long-term effects of systematic flywheel training of the elderly. Moreover, we will study the mechanisms behind the elderly’s comprehensive motor function and long-term adaptation to flywheel load. Before and after exercise, we will perform measurements with an in-depth test battery to evaluate the integrity of the elderly’s motor function.

The project will provide important basic knowledge in the field of care for the comprehensive daily motor function of the elderly. Measurement approaches for evaluating the integrity of the elderly’s motor function will be designed and tested, and basic strategies for personalizing flywheel exercise protocols for the elderly will be prepared. The basic findings of the project will serve as a basis for the design and implementation of further applied research in the field of care for the overall motor function of the elderly and flywheel exercise (research of different protocols and approaches and ways of personalization).

The internal postdoctoral position is financed from the Rector’s UP Fund.