The Effect of a Course of Yoga with the Approach of Ultimate-Fit Preparationand Hatha-Yoga Exercises on Static Balance in Middle-Aged Women

Having balance in daily activities is important and one of the ways to maintain and improve balance is to do sports exercises. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of yoga exercises with the ultimate fitness (UF) and Hatha Yoga approach on static balance in middle-aged women.

The present study was quasi-experimental. The statistical population included middle-aged women who are active in sports clubs in Isfahan, Iran in 2019. 45 women were selected by purposive sampling and randomly divided into three groups of yoga with UF approach (n=15), Hatha Yoga (n=15) and control (n=15). The two exercise groups performed yoga exercises with UF and Hatha Yoga approaches for 8 weeks, two sessions of 60 minutes per week, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The stork-test and angel-test balance were used to measure static balance

After 8 weeks of yoga exercises with UF and Hatha Yoga approaches, static balance in middleaged women had a significant improvement (P≥0.05) compared to baseline values and this result was due to intergroup changes in stork-test (P=0.009) and angel-test (P=0.001). Also, the range of changes of all variables in exercise groups was significantly higher than in the control group (P≥0.05). This has a significant difference between UF approach group with control in stork test (P = 0.007) and Hatha Yoga group with control in angel test (P = 0.04)

According to the findings of this study, yoga exercises with UF approach and Hatha Yoga can be used as a non-pharmacological method in rehabilitation, maintenance and improvement of balance in middle-aged women