The Effect of Eight Weeks Selected Exercises on Balance Indexes in Elderly Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

Knee Osteoarthritis is considered as one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal disorders which leads to joint degeneration and consequently deterioration of function and balance. Imbalance in the elderly is a factor for falling and consequently complications. Therefore, preventing these problems is essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks selected exercise on balance indexes in elderly patients with Knee Osteoarthritis.
Twenty-four elderly males with knee osteoarthritis in the age range of 55 to 65 years were selected through non-probability inconvenient sampling and divided randomly into two groups; experimental group (n=12, weight 79.16 ± 11.98 Kg and height 169.16± 7.01 Cm) and control group (n=12, weight 77.08 ± 9.31Kg and height 167.66 ± 5.03 Cm). The balance indexes were examined before and after eight weeks of exercise by using the biodex system (postural stability test). Repeated measures analyze of variance were used for data analysis. Dependent and independent t-tests were used to examine differences within and between groups (p>0.05).
Our finding showed significant difference in experimental group between pre and post tests in AP (p=0.003), ML (p=0.006), and overall (p=0.001) indexes. However, there were no significant difference in control group between pre and post tests (p>0.05 for all indexes). There were significant differences between two groups in AP (p=0.03), ML (p=0.04), and overall (p=0.01) indexes.
The findings showed that eight weeks selected exercise could significantly improve all balance indexs, therefore, it may could consider as an effective method to improve balance and to prevent falling down in patients with knee osteoarthritis.