Effect of a Course of selected Cawthorne-Cooksey and Frankel Exercises on balance, Coordination and walking speed of Elderly men with Dementia.

Aging is a period during which the physiological structures and functions of the body gradually decrease and a person experiences a significant decrease in various skills. This study aimed to compare the effect of a selected CawtorneCooksey and Frankel’s exercise course on some physical and movement factors of elderly men with dementia.

This research, semi-experimental and  includes 24 elderly men with dementia, living in Tawheed Golamgan Elderly Care Center of Mashhad, purposefully  based on Examination (MMSE), in to two groups ,  divided. The experimental group performed the selected exercises of Cawtorne Cooksey and Frankel, the control group did not perform any specific exercises during this period. Fullerton test was used to evaluate balance, tandem gate test was used to evaluate coordination, 10-meter walking test was used for walking speed.  used to evaluate the effectiveness of the exercises, and covariance analysis and T at the significance level of P≤0/05 were used.

The results of the paired t-test illustrated that   of the Fullerton advanced balance test (P=0.001), movement coordination (P=0/001), and walking speed (P=0/001) of the experimental group improved after the exercise program, while  did not show improvement in the control group. the results of the analysis of covariance in the pre-test stage did not mark a significant difference between the groups, but in the post-test stage, the scores of the experimental group increased significantly.

It is recommended to use the benefits of these exercises in order to prevent dementia and include in the elderly care programs.