The Effect of 6 Weeks Aerobic Training on Balance and on Flexibility in Elderly Women in Hamadan

Different factors such as decrease in physical activity led to decrease in balance and flexibility of various muscles in older adults. However, having good balance and flexibility as a health-related fitness factors in the elderly is particularly important.
This research was semi-experimental and its statistical population was 60-70 years old inactive elderly women who spent their free time at parks, cultural centers and other recreational places in Hamedan. The research’s samples included 30 elderly women who were randomly divided into two control and experimental groups. Control group (15 individuals) performed their daily activities, and experimental group performed 45 minutes aerobic exercise with moderate-intensity, such as jogging or walking with exercise intensity of 60% of maximum heart rate for 6 weeks, 3 sessions per week. To measure static balance, Sharpand Romberg test was used, and to measure dynamic balance, balance beam with 4.5 meter length 10 cm width and 10 cm height was used. To measure flexibility, the flexibility ducts was used. To compare pre-test and post-test of dependent variables, paired t-test was used and to compare post-test between two groups, independent t-test was used.
The findings showed that in experimental group that performed 6 weeks of aerobic exercise such as walking or running with exercise intensity of 60% of maximum heart rate, there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test in static balance (p=0.001), dynamic balance (p=0.000) and flexibility (p=0.000).However this difference for three variables in control group was not significant (p>0.05).
It can be concluded that elderly women can improve their balance and flexibility with walking or jogging.