The effects of a 6 weeks corrective exercise program on improving flat foot and static balance in boys

Flat foot complication can be associated with balance and postural of the patients. Moreover, the complication of these problems can be improved through correctiveexercise programs. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of a 6 weeks corrective exercise program on improvement flat foot and static balance. This is a semiexperimentalresearch. Samples were consisting of 50 boy students (10-12 years old) with flexible flat foot, they divided into 2 groups: experimental group (35 people) and control group 15 people). Samples were selected according to the Navy- drop test (P: 76%-95%). To measure static balance the Biodex balance system timer was used. Postural stability in the anterior-posterior, internalexternal and overall index balance was achieved. For statistical analysis of data, Kolmogorov– Smirnov test for normal distribution of data and assumptions of the Wilcoxon signed ranks, Man Whitney algorithm and paired t-test with the level of 0.05 was used. The results indicated a significant difference (p=0.001) between pre-test and post-test of the experimental group in flat foot improvement; and there was a significant difference (p=0.003) between post-test values of them. Moreover, balance index of experimental group between pre-test and post-test for the anteriorposterior side (p=0.03), and for overall index (p=0.005), but not in internal-external side (p 0.08), were improved. On the other hand, there were significant differences between experimental and control groups in lateral (p=0.04), anterior-posterior (p=0.005), and total (p=0.009) balance. According to this study, to improve the flat foot deformity and static balance, the corrective exercise program is strongly recommended for the 10-12 years old boy students.