The effect of balance training on hip, knee, and ankle joints Kinematic compatibility of older women during walking

One of the main causes of death in the elderly is related to the injuries from falls during walking. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of 6 weeks of balance training on kinematic compatibility of hips, knees, and ankles joints during walking in elderly women.
In the current semi-experimental study, 20 elderly women with the age range of 60-75 (67.72± 4.48 ages) were selected based on convenience sampling procedure to participate in the present study. The participants were randomly divided into control and experiment groups. Participants in each group took a walking test in a pre-test session followed by a post-test after 6 weeks .Participants in the experimental group performed the balance training systematically for 3 sessions in a week. Overall, they were trained for 18 sessions of balance training (including various modes of standing and walking) based on the decided protocol. Making use of motion analysis system, Kinematic features of the walking such as range of motion of hip, knee and ankle joints were collected and analyzed using the Cortex software. Repetitive ANOVA (2 × 2) was run for the purpose of data analysis.
The results of the present study showed significant improvement in range of motion of hip joint (p=0.03) in elderly women of the experiment group compared with that in the control group. Although the variables range of motion of knee (p=0.12) and ankle (p=0.28) joints increased in the experiment group, these increases were not significant in comparison with that in the control group.
The results revealed that kinematic compatibility of hip joint in older women is affected by 6 weeks of balance training. Therefore, it can be suggested that this balance training intervention could be an effective approach to ameliorate the risk factors for falls and to promote safer locomotion in elderly community-dwelling women.