The effect of balance, strength and combined training on balance in elderly women

Aging is associated with a number of physiologic and functional declines that can contribute to increased disability, frailty, and falls. Therefore The purpose of present study was to compare the effect of balance, strength and combined training on balance (overall, Anterior-posterior, Medial-lateral) in elderly women. Twenty four untrained older adults were selected voluntarily and randomly assigned into three groups: balance (n= 8), strength (n= 8) and combined (n= 8). An 6 week exercise program was performed at shahid beheshti university. The program was performed 3 days per week. Before and after implementation of exercise program The status of subject's balance was measured by Biodex Stability System. The data were analyzed using tow- way analysis of variance (group × time ANOVA) with repeated measures on time, paired – sample t test, one – way ANOVA and Bonferroni post – hoc test (p&le 0.05). The end of training programs there was a significant difference in the score of Overall, Anterior – Posterior and Medial – Lateral balance in the balance and combined groups and there was a significant in score of Anterior- Posterior and Medial- Lateral in the strength group compared to the beginning of the study. There was a significant difference in the score of Overall and Anterior- Posterior balance in the balance and combined groups compared with strength group after exercise program and there wasnt a significant difference in the score of Medial- Lateral balance in the three groups. The study showed that perturbation – based training and combined training had the best effect compared with strength training.