The Effect of Balance Exercises on Static and Dynamic Balance of the Mentally Retarded Female Students

Mentally retarded children have lower levels of physical fitness in comparison with normal children of the same age. As balance exercises can be a key to solve this problem, this study aimed at investigating the effect of balance exercises on static and dynamic balance of mentally retarded students. In this semi-experimental study, 32 mentally retarded female students in Yazd city were assigned to two groups: experimental and control. SEBT test, Stroke test and Sharp and Romberg test were used to measure the balance. Before and after 8 weeks of balance exercises for the experimental group, balance test was conducted for both groups. An independent t test was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that after the balance exercises, the dynamic and static balance on one foot improved significantly in experimental group (P≤0.05) in comparison with the control group in posttest in comparison with the pretest. But, static balance on both feet had no significant improvement in any of the two groups (P≥0.05). It can be concluded that 8 weeks of balance exercises influenced the improvement of the dynamic and static balance of the mentally retarded students; therefore, such exercises are recommended as a part of physical education course of the mentally retarded people.