Physical and Cognitive Exercises in Nursing Homes: Is Frailty Reversible?

Inclusion criteria

• Men and women with an age of at least 70 years at the start of the study;
• Staying for at least one month in WZC St. Elisabeth Hasselt at the start of the study;
• Being frail or prefrail (according to the criteria of Fried);
• Being available to participate in the study during 4 consecutive weeks;
• Being able to actively exercise on an exercise bike (if necessary from a wheelchair) during at least 5 minutes;
• Understand simple instructions.

Exclusion criteria

• Any neurological or orthopedic disease which makes it impossible to exercise by bike actively e.g. stroke with hemiparesis of the lower limbs, amputations of the lower limbs,…;
• Any disease which makes it impossible to exercise actively e.g. heart failure;
• Any neurological or orthopedic disease from which progression (e.g. hip prosthesis, acute stroke) due to active recovery or decline (e.g. ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis), MS) due to the disease process can be expected on short term (1-2 months);
• Being blind or visually impaired;
• Any acute disease on the moment of the intervention which makes it impossible to exercise by bike during 30 minutes (e.g. hyper- or hypoglycemia) (reported by the caregiver)