Citation

Jacobson BH, Sellers J, Monaghan T, Schnaiter-Brasche J, Loy K, Estrada C, Moghaddam M. Activ. Adapt. Aging 2019; 43(1): 37-50.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/01924788.2018.1467140

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Falls by the elderly are preceded by muscle weakness and deteriorated sensory input. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of an independent static balance (ISB) protocol with the National Institute on Aging (NIA) supervised protocol for improving balance. Sixteen participants (age 88.6 ± 4.3 year) were randomly placed in the ISB or NIA group. Pre- and posttests included fall risk (FR), overall stability (OS), anterior/posterior index (API), and medial and lateral index (MLI). Training consisted of 20 min, 2 × weeks for 12 weeks. The NIA group demonstrated greater improvement in all variables compared to the ISB group except for FR; however, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the groups among any dependent variable. Static balance exercises conducted independently led to similar improvements in balance and FR reduction as the highly supervised NIA protocol. Balance can be improved independently without close supervision thus allowing personnel to tend to other patients.

Language: en

Keywords

Balance; elderly; exercise; falls