Effectiveness of Dual Task and Focus of Attention Intervention on Balance in Elderly people of Ahvaz in 2019

The ability of the elderly to maintain balance during cognitive activity changes. Given the importance of recognizing the nature of the balance disorder among the elderly and the importance of verbal commands in rehabilitating such disorders, the purpose of this study was to investigate the Effectiveness of Dual Task and Focus of Attention Intervention on Balance in Elderly in Ahvaz.

The research method is semi-experimental and applied in terms of purpose. The statistical population was the elderly men of Salehin House in Ahvaz in 1397. 40 people were selected by available method. First, a static and dynamic equilibrium test was taken. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups of 10: dual task, internal attention, external attention, and control. The intervention was performed for 3 consecutive days. The dual task group performed a cognitive secondary task while performing a static and dynamic balance. The inner focus group focused on their feet during the performance. While performing the dynamic balance, the external focus group focused on the end of the path and focused on the static balance at a distance of 3 meters. An hour after the end of the training phase, the post-test was taken. Data analysis was performed using the statistical analysis of one-way variance analysis with SPSS software version 22.

The results showed that the groups did not differ in demographic characteristics (P <0.05). In the pre-test phase, there is no significant difference between groups (P <0.05), but in the post-test period, there is a significant difference between groups in both static and dynamic equilibrium (P <0.05).

The results of this study confirmed that the exercises of the instruction of the focus of internal attention weaken the static and dynamic balance. Exercises of the external focus guide improve static and dynamic balance, and the dual task attention guideline improves static balance in the elderly, but has a weakening effect on the dynamic balance of the elderly.