The Comparison of Effect of Braille Tonic and Yoga Exercises on Balance and Motor Function of Educable Mentally Retarded Girls

Mental retardation is one of the most common mental disorders associated with impaired balance and impaired motor function. The aim of this study was to compare Braille tonic and yoga exercises on the level of balance and motor performance of educable mentally retarded girls.The population of this study was all of the mentally retarded girls of Mashhad City, and sample consisted of 45 educable mentally retarded girls, with mean age (11.34 ± 2.95 years), height (149± 6.91 cm) and weight (39.52± 6.13 kg), who were healthy physically and voluntarily participated in this research. The subjects were randomly divided into three equal experimental and control groups (n=12). The experimental groups had six weeks of Braille tonic and Yoga training with three sessions per week and each session lasted for 45-minutes. During this period, the control group did not perform any specific types of exercise. In the pre-test with Bonferroni post hoc test and post-test, the stork, Y test, and the stand-up and test were used for static, dynamic, and motor balance analyses, respectively. Data were analyzed through descriptive and analysis of covariance at the 0.05 level.The results within the group showed that Brytonic and yoga exercises improve children's static balance, dynamic balance and movement performance (P=0.001). Also, the inter-group results showed that static balance, dynamic balance and movement performance were significantly better in the yoga and Brytonic exercise group than the control group (P=0.001). However,  there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of yoga and Brytonic exercises in improving static and dynamic balance and movement performance (p>0.05) and motor function. It is recommended to use Braille tonic and yoga exercises in rehabilitation programs for mentally retarded students.Considering Brytonic and yoga exercises both balance and movement performance factors, it is suggested to use Brytonic and yoga exercises in the rehabilitation programs of intellectually disabled students.