Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of water, dry and combined exercises on performance, balance and fear of falling in elderly women.
Methods: 48 elderly women in the age range of 61 to 70 years were selected from among the elderly women of Karaj city. In order to collect data, the questionnaire of fear of falling and leaf balance tests and getting up and timed walking were used. The duration of the training was eight weeks and three sessions of 60 minutes each week (18 sessions). To test the hypotheses, Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical methods, correlated t-test, one-way analysis of variance and Duncan's post hoc test were used at a significance level of less than 5 percent.
Results: The findings showed that eight weeks of training in water, on land, and the combination of water and land have a significant effect on all the studied indicators and led to improved performance (p<0.05). Also, the findings showed that there was a significant difference between the effect of eight weeks of selected exercises in water, land and water-land combination on functional tests, balance and fear of falling in elderly women with the superiority of the combined exercise group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of exercise methods, it is recommended for the elderly to put more emphasis on combined exercises in order to improve balance and psychological index of fear of falling.
Main Subjects