Using Exercise to Fight Frailty

Using Exercise to Fight Frailty

Research Project Exercise to Fight Frailty

Posted April 2017

Dr. Gareth Jones, Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Exercise Science, is leading research on the best ways to reverse frailty, the physiological decline many people experience as they get older.

Women from the community who were becoming frail were invited to the Healthy Exercise and Aging Laboratory (HEAL) on campus to complete a 12-week exercise program of functional resistance training and balance delivered by UBCO undergraduate and graduate students. The results showed that the exercise intervention was effective at reversing frailty.

As one of the only frailty exercise research programs currently underway in Canada, Dr. Jones and his team are now testing whether a tailored, multi-component program of exercise can assist both pre-frail and frail adults.

Dr. Jones’ interdisciplinary research team includes MSc students Nick Bray and Rowan Smart, and IHLCDP Associates Dr. Jennifer Jakobi (Associate Professor, Health and Exercise Science), Dr. Kathy Rush (Associate Professor, Nursing), and Dr. Charlotte Jones (Associate Professor, Medicine).

This research is profiled in this UBCO video – see below.