The Effects of Listening to Music on Postural Balance in Middle-Aged Women
Fatma Ben Waer,
Sonia Sahli,
Cristina Ioana Alexe,
Maria Cristina Man,
Dan Iulian Alexe,
Lucian Ovidiu Burchel
Affiliations
Fatma Ben Waer
Research Laboratory Education, Motricity, Sport and Health, LR19JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Sonia Sahli
Research Laboratory Education, Motricity, Sport and Health, LR19JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Cristina Ioana Alexe
Department of Physical Education and Sports Performance, Faculty of Movement, Sports and Health Sciences, “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, 600115 Bacau, Romania
Maria Cristina Man
Department of Physical Education, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, 510009 Alba Iulia, Romania
Dan Iulian Alexe
Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Movement, Sports and Health Sciences, “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău, 600115 Bacau, Romania
Lucian Ovidiu Burchel
Department of Environmental Sciences, Physics, Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sciences, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550024 Sibiu, Romania
Listening to music has been found to influence postural balance in both healthy participants and certain patients, whereas no study investigates such effects among healthy middle-aged women. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effect of music on postural balance in middle-aged women. Twenty-six healthy women aged between 50 and 55 years participated in this study. A stabilometric platform was used to assess their postural balance by recording the mean center of pressure velocity (VmCOP) in the eyes-opened (OE) and -closed (EC) conditions on both firm and foam surfaces. Our results showed that listening to an excerpt of Mozart’s Jupiter significantly decreased the VmCOP values in two sensory conditions (firm surface/EO: (p p < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.48 to 2.44)), but not in the other two conditions (firm surface/EC and foam surface/EO). We concluded that listening to Mozart’s symphony improved postural performance in middle-aged women, even in challenged postural conditions. These enhancements could offer great potential for everyday functioning.
