Chair-based exercise improved some physical-function tests after menopause
A review of randomized trials found improvements in endurance, flexibility and balance during movement, while several other outcomes showed no statistically significant improvement.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Chair-based exercise improved selected measures of physical function in women after menopause. Muscle endurance, flexibility and balance during movement improved, but daily activities, handgrip strength, balance while still and falls-efficacy scores showed no statistically significant changes. These mixed results leave uncertainty about everyday benefits; the nonsignificant findings do not prove that effects are absent.
This abstract-based account lacks details on program lengths, exercise content and control activities. Those omissions limit how specifically the pooled results can be applied to a particular exercise setting.
What researchers found
Arm-muscle endurance: standardized mean difference
Chair-based exercise versus control groups, favoring exercise; assessment timing was not reported. Standard-deviation units allow different test scales to be combined; this is neither a raw score difference nor a percentage improvement.
What the tests show
The review separates muscle endurance from handgrip strength and balance during movement from balance while still. Improvements in some tests therefore do not demonstrate a general improvement across every aspect of physical function.
Falls need separate evidence
The falls-related measure was a falls-efficacy scale. The abstract does not give actual fall counts, so improvements in movement-based balance cannot establish that participants experienced fewer falls or fractures.
The original publication
The effect of chair-based exercise on physical functioning in postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis.
Gao Y, Zhang L, Wei Y et al.
BMC Geriatr · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41257594
- Record checked
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