The Effect of Romberg Exercise on Falling Episodes of Elderlies With History of Past Fallings

To investigate the effect of Romberg exercise on balance improvement in elderly persons, 70 elderly persons with the history of two or more falling during recent 3 months were selected from Kahrizak nursing home in Tehran (38 as cases and 32 as controls).Methods & Materials: Romberg exercise was done in case group every day (45 minute per day and one time each day) for 3 months. Among all persons, 28 persons in case group and 21 persons in control group were followed for 6 months and incidence and frequency of falling were assessed during this time. The Incidence of one or more falling in case and control groups was 31.3% and 47.6% in men and 57.9% and 27.3% in women, respectively. We found no significant relation between gender and the incidence of falling (P=0.460). Also, no significant relation was found between age and incidence (P=0.554) and frequency of falling (P=0.144) in elderly persons. Although the effect of Romberg exercise on improvement of balance disturbance and falling was not demonstrated, it needs additional studies with larger sample size and longer follow-up.