Effect of an Eight-Week PNF Training of the Lower Extremities on the Static, Dynamic, and Functional Balance in Elderly Women Aged 60-70 Years
European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine,
2022, Volume 9, Issue 7, Pages 6573-6585
Abstract
Loss of muscle strength and joints range of motion associated with aging are the main causes of balance deficit and falling in the elderly, and training using proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) may be effective in improving these factors. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of an eight-week PNF training of the lower extremitiesin improving the static, dynamic, and functional balance among elderly women aged 60-70 years. To this end, a pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. Participants (30 elderly women, age 69.26±3.72 years, weight 67.26±5.91 kg, height 155.78±4.64 cm) were randomly assigned into two groups of the experiment (training group, n = 15) and control (daily life activities, n = 15). The training intervention consisted of eight weeks (24 sessions of 50 minutes, three sessions per week) of PNF training of the lower extremities. The static, dynamic and functional balance were measured in the pre-test and the post-test using the Sharpened Romberg Test, the Timed Up and Go Test, and the Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale, respectively. The Results revealed significant improvements in the experiment group in terms of static balance with eyes open (20.48%), static balance with eyes closed (54.70%), dynamic balance (26.60%), and functional balance (12.37%, all p ≤ 0.001). Comparison of the groups in the post-test showed that the experiment group significantly was better than the control group in static balance with eyes open (p < 0.001), static balance with eyes closed (p < 0.001), dynamic balance (p = 0.019) and functional balance (p = 0.006). Based on the findings, an eight-week PNF training of the lower extremities is effective in improving static, dynamic and functional balance in elderly women; where the ability of static balance with eyes closed receives the most influence from the training- Article View: 4
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