Effects of Task Specific Exercise Program Versus Pilates to Improve Balance in Elderly Population

Author(s): K. Madhumathi* and P. Pooja

Abstract: Introduction: The term “aging” refers to the biological process of growing older in a deleterious sense. Aging will result in certain changes within the elderly persons gait pattern which includes decrease of gait velocity, step length & a wider base. Poor balance and inability to control the position of the body, is a significant contributor for falls in older people. Aim: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of Pilates and task specific training to improve the balance in the elderly population. Methods And Materials: The subjects with age 60 to 65 years old, both male and females with good visual and auditory function were included in the study and use of any assistive devices (like cane, walking stick), Obese subjects, amputees, history of any surgery (like -hysterectomy, TKR) and recent fracture or any injury were excluded from this study. The subjects were divided into Group A and Group B. Group A underwent Task-Specific Training and Group B – Pilates training for 6 weeks for 3 days per week. POMA-T (Tinetti-performance oriented mobility assessment) was used as outcome measure to evaluate the balance before and after intervention. Result: According to the numerical data obtained from the statistical analysis the significant improvement was noticed with the pre and post -test values of both the groups, balance increased from (17.33 TO 22.4) with p-value <0.0001 in GROUP-A and GROUP-B from (18.07 TO 24.3) with p-value <0.0001. Conclusion: Balance can be improved in elderly population by using this exercise protocol.

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