Is Anticipatory Postural Adjustments Focused Training Effective for Fall Prevention and Quality of Life in the Elderly?

Abstract

Introduction: Two important problems of ageing include decreased Balance Confidence (BC) and consequently decreased Quality of Life (QOL). There is a relationship between BC and QOL, and that the elderly who have more fear of falling, have a significantly lower QOL. Aim: To study the effects of anticipatory postural adjustments focused training that is a novel approach to balance rehabilitation, on Balance Confidence and Quality of Life of the elderly. Materials and Methods: This study was an experiment with pre-test and post-test design, that was conducted in Aramesh Rehab Gym, Isfahan, Iran. The sample size included 40 elderly males with a history of falling. They were randomly allocated into Experimental Group (EG) (70.4±3.21 years) and Control Group (CG) (69.6±3.09 years). EG participated in a training program which provided different ways to catch a ball for eight weeks, and CG did not receive any training. Before and after the intervention, all participants completed the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale and the SF-36 questionnaire to evaluate BC and QOL, respectively. The Independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyse the data. Results: Both the ABC scale mean score and the total mean score of QOL in the EG significantly increased compared to the CG in the post-test (p<0.05). Also, in the post-test, the EG noticeably improved in every QOL survey domain compared to the CG (p<0.05), except the mental health domain. Conclusion: The findings appear to suggest that entertaining ball exercises that involve catching and throwing a ball in different conditions can improve the BC and the QOL, hence reducing the probability of falling in older people with records of a fall.

Keywords

• ball catching and throwing
• balance training
• exercise for elderly
• fear of falling
• perturbation training