Effect of Multisensory Balance Training on Postural Control in Older People

It has been found that older adults fell or swayed significantly more than younger adults under sensory conflict conditions. Considering the prospects of future increase in elderly population of Iran and lack of proper postural control and high costs of its probable consequences, this study investigated the effects of Multi balance training on postural control. In this semi-experimental study, 34 older women participated in two training and control groups with the mean age of 72.4 and 72.9 respectively. Before and after training, to investigate the functional balance and postural control, Berg Balance Scale and force plate were used. The training group participated in multisensory balance training sessions of 1 hour classes held three days per week for five weeks. Data was analyzed by use of independent sample t- test and paired t-test. The analysis showed significant differences between training group and control group after balance training on the measured parameters of postural control consisted of path length and mean velocity in the eyes open (p=0/001) and eyes closed (p=0/0001) conditions and Berg Balance Scale(p=0/002). Results indicate that multisensory balance training can improve the parameters of postural control even in short term.