The Effect of Manipulation of Task Restraints on Functional Indicators and Anxiety Related to Fear of Falling in the Elderly

Task and environment constraints are very important in cognitive, perceptual, decision-making, and tactical behaviors. Task constraints are more specific than environmental constraints in performance context, therefore, the present research intended to examine the effect of manipulation of task constraints on functional indicators and the anxiety related to the fear of falling in the elderly.

For this purpose, 45 elderly women (in the age range of 60 to 66 years) were randomly divided into three groups of manipulation of task constraints, without manipulation of task constraints, and control group. Then, the experimental groups performed exercises with manipulation of task constraints and exercises without manipulation of task constraints for eight weeks and three sessions per week for 45 minutes. The control group also continued their normal activities during the research period.

In this research, TUG and BESS tests were used to evaluate performance indicators, and Hamilton's anxiety evaluation scale was used to evaluate the anxiety index. The results of the analysis of covariance by removing the effect of the pre-test showed that in terms of performance and anxiety the group with the manipulation of the task constraints obtained significantly better results (P=0.001) than the group without manipulation and control group.

The results of this research supported the use of various manipulations of task constraints as a kind of teaching strategy for the elderly. It also confirms the effect of exercises by manipulating the task constraints, which improves balance and reduces the fear of falling in the elderly. By improving this ability, the risk of falling in this social class is reduced.