Jornal Europeu de Biologia Experimental Acesso livre

Abstrato

The effect of reflexology training on postural stability and postural sway in elderly women

Marayam Faraj Khoda, Eidy Alijani and Mehdi Kohandel

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of six weeks of reflexology exercises on postural stability and postural sway in active elderly women. 40 healthy women aged 60 to 80 years old were randomly divided into two experimental group (n = 20) and control group (n = 20). Before beginning any exercise program pretest with Biodex system were used. Post-test was performed in the same condition after six weeks of normal training and reflexology exercises. Reflexology is based on Byers’s exercise instruction including three sessions a week, each session 30 minutes working on both legs (each leg 15 minutes). Experimental subjects did the reflexology exercises for six weeks plus their normal activities. Control subjects only perform their normal activities for the same duration. Descriptive and inferential statistics including independent t-test and paired t-test at a significant level of p≤0.05 were used to analyze the data .The results showed that postural stability and postural sway were significantly improved in experimental groups with open and closed eyes on both firm(hard) and foam surfaces. So, these findings indicated that six weeks reflexology which may effect on proprioceptive sense of one's own body position in space can lead to a better balance in elderly women with open and closed eyes.