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Ethics
Chapter 3 – Methods
Ethics approval for the study was granted by the Northern Regional Y
Ethics Committee (reference: NTY/10/03/025).
Resistance training intervention
The resistance training intervention used in the present study was
identical to the RT programme used successfully by Keogh, et al. (2007)
and Keogh, et al. (2010) to reduce finger force variability and postural
tremor, respectively in neurologically normal older adults. The
programme consisted of three unilateral dumbbell exercises; an elbow
flexion, wrist flexion and wrist extension (Figures 3-5). Each exercise was
performed for four sets of 8-10 repetitions. The first set was a warm-up
set, with the load being 50% of the 5RM established during the strength
tests. The following three sets had training loads set at an intensity that
would allow for the completion of at least eight repetitions. If three full
sets of 10 repetitions were able to be performed, the load was then
increased by between 1kg for the next session. A two minute rest period
was given between each set of an exercise.
This programme was performed over a period of six weeks, with each
week involving two sessions of approximately 40 minutes each. Between
each session there was a rest period of at least 48 hours. Every session
was supervised by a clinical exercise physiologist.
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