Physical changes such as impairment flexibility, balance, muscle strength and reaction time occur with aging. Regular lifetime physical activity appears to delay these factors. The purpose of this study was to determine if 12 weeks Pilates exercise could improve dynamic balance, reaction time, flexibility, muscle strength, bone density and quality of life in 65+ years old women and to investigate the changes of these parameters in a year follow up. Thirty out of a hundred women living in a Residential House in Ankara were enrolled in the study. Participants attended a 12-week series of one-hour Pilates exercise meeting three times per week. Dynamic balance, flexibility, reaction time, number of falls, muscle strength, bone mineral density, quality of life and anxiety were measured before and after exercise. Results showed that flexibility, balance, simple and choice reaction time, muscle strength, number of falls, quality of life and beck anxiety scores significantly improved in the exercise group. In addition, after a year of follow up, there were prominent decreases in simple reaction time and muscle strength, choice reaction time, number of falls and bone
mineral density in control group while there were no evident changes in exercise group. Furthermore, there were significant relationships of balance with muscle strength, choice
reaction time and anxiety.As the result of this study, it can be concluded that Pilates exercise can be efficient for
preventing falls, increasing muscle strength and dynamic balance, flexibility, reaction time and decreasing anxiety while increasing quality of life. In the long term, Pilates exercise may
have very positive effects on bone mineral density.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12611273/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 November 2009 |
| Creators | Babayigit Irez, Gonul |
| Contributors | Korkusuz, Feza |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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